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./I 33 
 LIFE GLEANINGS 
 
 Compiled by 
 
 T.J 
 
 RICHMOND, VA. 
 
 1913 
 
 W. H. ADAMS, Publisher 
 
 Richmond, Virginia 
 
PREFACE 
 
 My Life's Gleanings is not intended to be a technical 
 history cronologically arranged, but a reproduction of 
 events that my memory recalls. By retrospecting to oc- 
 curances that happened during my journey of life. To 
 those who were contemporaneous with the gleanings al- 
 luded to they will recognize them. To the younger reader 
 he will glean what happened in the past. The incident and 
 anecdote is founded on facts. I launch the book on 
 the highway of public approval, hoping the reader will 
 not be disappointed. THE AUTHOR. 
 
 500010 
 
MY LIFE'S GLEANINGS 
 
 COMPILED BY T. J. MACON 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The author of these pages first saw the light of day at 
 the family home of his father, Mr. Miles Cary Macon, 
 called "Fairfield," situated on the banks of that historic 
 river, the "Chicahominy," in the good old County of Han- 
 over, in Virginia. My grandfather, Colonel William Hart- 
 well Macon, started each of his sons on the voyage of 
 life with a farm, and the above was allotted to my respected 
 parent. Belonging to the place, about one or two miles 
 from the dwelling, was a grist mill known as ' ' Mekenses, ' ' 
 and how the name of "Macon" could have been corrupted 
 to "Mekenses," is truly unaccountable, yet such as the 
 case. The City of Richmond was distant about eight miles 
 to the South. This old homestead passed out of the Macon 
 family possession about seventy years ago, and a Mr. Over- 
 ton succeeded my father in the ownership of "Fairfield" 
 and the mill. Later a Doctor Gaines purchased it. My 
 highly respected parents were the fortunate possessors of 
 a large and flourishing family of ten children, all of whom 
 were born at "Fairfield." 
 
 The Macon manor house was situated just on the edge 
 of the famous trucking section of Hanover County, which 
 agricultural characteristic gave its soil an extensive repu- 
 tation for the production of the celebrated and highly- 
 prized melons and sweet potatoes of Hanover, known to 
 
6 
 
 Eastern Virginia for their toothsomness and great size. 
 This fine old plantation was surrounded by country estates 
 belonging to Virginia families, who were very sociable, 
 cultured and agreeable people. My father and mother 
 were thoroughly imbued with the spirit of that old-time 
 genial country hospitality, which was never found any- 
 where in this country more cordial, nor probably even 
 equal, to it. It afforded them infinite pleasure to visit and 
 to receive the calls of their neighbors. It was then the 
 invariable custom, when guests were entertained, for the 
 host to set out refreshments, always the best the larder 
 afforded, and to insist upon a liberal partaking of it, for 
 a refusal of the good cheer *vas indeed a rare thing, and 
 it was not considered polite to decline joining in wishing 
 good health and prosperity to your friends and neighbors, 
 always of course in moderate bumpers, not in excess, 
 and then the viands bountifully spread out were truly 
 tempting, real old Virginia style of cooking, such as beaten 
 biscuits that would almost melt in one's mouth, and other 
 dishes almost too numerous to mention, and then such a 
 hearty welcome accompanied the feast and "flow of soul," 
 and when the parting came there was always an appealing 
 invitation for a "speedy coming again" — a wish for an- 
 other visit. 
 
 Now there was no sham-pretence in these old Virginia 
 manners, but genuine heartfelt hospitality, which sprang 
 from kind hearts. A striking habit or custom at that 
 happy period in the "Old Dominion" life in the country 
 was the intrusting of the white children of the family to 
 the care of a good old colored nurse, or "Mammy," as 
 they were affectionately called by them; their mothers 
 turned the children over to their watchful supervision 
 and they were truly faithful and proud of their control 
 
7 
 
 of the little young masters and mistresses, thus reliev- 
 ing their "old mistress" of all care in rearing them 
 "Well do I remember my "old Mammy," whose kindness 
 and affectionate treatment, not only won my heart, but my 
 prompt obedience to her commands and my cheerful recog- 
 nition of the authority delegated her by my fond mother. 
 I was the youngest of the family, and as time was welding 
 each link in the chain of my life, it was passing like, as 
 in all families at that period, situated as my parents were, 
 smoothly and unruffled by excitement or troubles abroad. 
 My mother owned a number of slaves, or servants, as Vir- 
 ginians generally termed them, whom she treated with 
 kindness, and when sick she nursed them with the skill 
 and tender consideration accorded members of her own 
 family, and in return they looked up to, and respected, 
 her ; indeed revered ' ' Old Missus, ' ' as they often called her. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 At the time I am writing about, the life of the Virginia 
 farmer was one to be much desired, for he was a baron 
 in his realm, was lord of all he surveyed, and yielded no 
 obeisance to any one, but to his Maker and his country. 
 The dark shadows of coming dire events had not then cast 
 their war-like omens ahead. The question of the Missouri 
 Compromise, the admission of Kansas into the sisterhood 
 of the States under the Lecompton Convention, the decision 
 in the Dred Scott ease, the political issues and measures 
 which were the precursors of the great war between the 
 States had not yet reached Congress. Everything that 
 could render life pleasant was vouchsafed the country 
 gentleman and planter, and his family about three-quarters 
 of a century ago. 
 
8 
 
 What was to happen in the near future no one at this 
 early period could Cassandra-like predict, and yet there 
 was in the political horizon a small pillar of portentous 
 appearance, which was destined to cover the whole heavens 
 with gloom and bring death to thousands of peaceful citi- 
 zens in this country, through the clash of arms and fratri- 
 cidal strife in which brothers were arrayed against broth- 
 ers, and fathers against sons. 
 
 My father was an old line Whig and believed in the 
 theory of government advocated by Alexander Hamilton, 
 yet he recognized the antonomy of the States and approved 
 some of the tenets of Mr. Thomas Jefferson, but did not 
 agree with him generally, being in favor of a strong cen- 
 tral government at Washington, though disagreeing with 
 the extremists of both sections. 
 
 Being a close student of the political history of our coun- 
 try he subscribed to, and carefully read every page of, the 
 National Intelligencer, owned and published by the Seaton 
 brothers, which was the best exponent of the legislation 
 of the time that has ever been issued ; the editorials were 
 clear and forcible and the reports of the debates in Con- 
 gress were correct and complete. The political disputes 
 on the floor of Congress began to be warm, and indeed acri- 
 monious between the Northern and Southern members, 
 which brought out the great efforts for peace of Henry 
 Clay, of Kentucky, and prevented at that time a clash of 
 arms between the sections. The admission of Kansas into 
 the Union under the Lecompton Convention was but a link 
 in the chain of events leading to the great Civil War. 
 Well do I recall my respected parent's remark that the 
 trend of the speeches by the Free-Soil, or Abolition, party 
 in the North and those of the Seccessionists of the South, 
 would certainly bring about a disruption of the United 
 
9 
 States if persisted in ; and alas ! his children lived to see 
 his remark verified in the year 1861. 
 
 Our family moved from old Fairfield to Magnolia farm, 
 only about two miles north of Richmond, which place 
 was then owned by the Nortons, and it was a quiet, pleas- 
 ant home ''far away from the madding crowd" in a so- 
 ciable and agreeable neighborhood; it is at the present 
 time owned by the "Hartshorne" Colored Female Insti- 
 tute and now is included within the corporate limits of 
 the city of Richmond, Va. How rapidly the wheel of time 
 brings changes in our surroundings. My father's chil- 
 dren are advancing in years, the older ones are sent off to 
 boarding schools, my oldest brother had just returned from 
 Philadelphia, where he had attended the Jefferson Medi- 
 cal College as an office student of Dr. Thomas C. Mutter, 
 the president of the college, who was first cousin of my 
 mother — her maiden name was Frances Mutter. 
 
 From Magnolia we moved to "Rose Cottage," owned 
 by a Mr. Richardson, the object in this move being to be 
 near "Washington and Henry" Academy, a boarding and 
 day school carried on by a Mr. and Mrs. Dunton ; she was in 
 charge of the small boys and the girls, while her husband 
 taught the large boys. I was in Mrs. Dunton 's department, 
 being but a small chap, and as to whether I learned any- 
 thing at this time it is a matter of considerable doubt. My 
 mother furnished six pupils to this institution. The prin- 
 cipals would come over to "Rose Cottage" two or three 
 times per month, bringing their boarders with them, which 
 visits they appeared to enjoy greatly as a good supper, 
 with a large and shady yard to play in, was certainly well 
 calculated to afford mirth and pleasure to both old and 
 young. A Mr. Osborne, a Presbyterian minister, boarded 
 at the academy, being a unique character and one of the 
 
10 
 best men to be found anywhere; he formed the plan of 
 teaching the scholars, young and old, the catechism of the 
 Presbyterian Church, and all those who committed it to 
 memory received a nice book as a prize. The climax of the 
 scheme was an offer of a grand prize to any scholar that 
 would repeat the whole of it without a hitch or halt. The 
 children were thoroughly inoculated with Presbyterianism. 
 The final trial of reciting, or memorizing, the catechism 
 came off at the residence of Mr. Thomas Gardner. The 
 contest was one long to be remembered, a Miss Fannie Shel- 
 ton scoring the first honor, and Miss Newell Gardner the 
 second. The supper provided for this happy occasion was 
 a first class one in every respect. The best that a well- 
 stocked farm house could produce, both in substantials and 
 nicknacks, such for instance, as broiled chicken, roast 
 lamb and barbecued pig, with dessert of ice cream, yellow 
 cake and pies in abundance ; it was in short one of the finest 
 "lay-outs" that I ever saw, and being an appreciative 
 youngster I did ample justice to it indeed, and fairly re- 
 velled in the many good eatables so generously spread be- 
 fore us, and to this day I remember it with pleasure. ' ' Rose 
 Cottage" was truly a delightful home. The never-failing 
 wheel of time was turning fast, and the water of life that 
 once passed over it will never again turn it. We were all 
 growing fast as we advanced in years. At this time my 
 father bought a place on Nine Mile Road, about two and a 
 half miles from the city, it was named "Auburn," and to 
 it we moved bag and baggage. 
 
 Just as with "Fairfield" and Magnolia," we found hos- 
 pitable neighbors, and genial intercourse was conspicuous. 
 Among them were Colonel Sherwin McRae and family, a 
 Mrs. Gibson, Mr. Tinsley Johnson, Mr. Gait Johnson, and 
 many other well known families, nearly all of whom have 
 
11 
 
 now moved away or have passed to the other side of the 
 river. Mr. William Gait Johnson lived about a quarter of 
 a mile from us, and there was a considerable intercourse 
 between the two families. "Gait," as he was called, was 
 a character of renown and possessed of much personality ; 
 one of his traits was never to give a word its correct pro- 
 nunciation and yet he thought he was right always. I was 
 visiting there one evening, and as supper was placed on 
 the table the bell rang ; Gait arose from his seat and in a 
 clear voice said "the bell has pronounced supper ready, 
 let 's go. ' ' His wife, who was a cultivated lady, attempted 
 to correct him by saying "announce, William," but she 
 eould never get him to change his mode of speech. Another 
 of his peculiarities was his lack of fondness of church-go- 
 ing. Mrs. Johnson, his wife, was a regular attendant to the 
 church and naturally desired her husband to accompany 
 her, a most reasonable wish, but Gait made several excuses 
 for not complying, and finally he urged as a last resort 
 that he could not sit in a pew unless he could whittle a 
 stick, and could not collect his thoughts sufficiently to lis- 
 ten to the sermon; so she told him that should not be a 
 good excuse, and that he could take a stick along and 
 trim it as much as he chose, and he consented to go with 
 her, but did not receive much benefit from the sermon. 
 
 My mother determined to send me to live with my eldest 
 brother, Doctor William H. Macon, who had recently mar- 
 ried Miss Nora C. Braxton, the daughter of Mr. Carter 
 Braxton, of "Ingleside, " Hanover County, the owner of 
 the celebrated plantation "New Castle," situated on the 
 Pamunkey River. The name of by brother's home was 
 "Woodland," about three miles below the well-known 
 tavern at Old Church. The reason of my being sent to live 
 with him was to be convenient to enter the school kept 
 
12 
 by a Count Larry, one of the best teachers of his day and 
 time. The school house was distant about three miles from 
 my brother's place, and not too far away for a little boy 
 to walk at that time. I was duly enrolled as a day scholar 
 in Count Larry's establishment, which consisted of an un- 
 pretentious structure, about thirty feet square, with two 
 doors, one for entry and the other for exit, and was lighted 
 by two windows with which to admit the sunshine and 
 fresh air in the summer time, and to shut out the "cold, 
 chilly winds of December." The school was composed of 
 both boys and girls, and the Count sat in a large wooden 
 chair, with a table at his side similar to those now seen 
 in a modern dairy lunch room in the cities. On the table 
 was placed all his text books and such other teacher's 
 implements, or fixings, and then to descend as it were from 
 the "sublime to the ridiculous," he installed, within easy 
 reach, a large earthen "spittoon," or more modernly 
 speaking, "cuspidor." The master, enthroned as like a 
 ruler, or king, surveyed his pupils with great dignity and 
 gravity. And although very kind and lenient in his deal- 
 ings with his young charges, yet when occasion required 
 it he could wield the birch with great effect, but always 
 with prudence and moderation. He always kept a sharp 
 pen-knife ready for use in making or mending quill pers, 
 for steel pens were not then in use for the children; the 
 goose quills were the only kind of pens we knew about, 
 and it was no small job to keep a lot of chaps well supplied 
 with writing materials, for he was constantly called upon. 
 We were given an hour at playtime, and about a mile 
 and half away was a mill pond, which is probably the 
 now unless dried up, and to this, in the warm weather, the 
 boys, both large and small, repaired in great glee, but the 
 girls did not accompany us. 
 
13 
 Well school boys are proverbially as prone to mischief as 
 are the sparks to fly upwards, and when the Count 
 would be absorbed in study the boys would throw torpedoes 
 upon the floor which would quickly arouse him from his 
 studies, but was soon made to believe that it was but an 
 accidental match dropped and trodden upon, though in 
 truth it was pure deviltry on the part of some of the larger 
 boys. An incident fraught with much concern to me in 
 connection with a boy by the name of Benjamin Tucker, 
 who was about my age, but much stouter and had by some 
 means gotten me under a sort of "hack," and it becoming 
 very annoying I Anally concluded that the thing had gone 
 far enough, so one day I lost patience with Benjamin and 
 I just ' ' pitched into ' ' him and gave him a gentle thrashing ; 
 he had on a bran-new nine-pence straw hat which I got 
 hold of and tore to smithereens. Well, after this "scrap" 
 I had no further trouble with Master Benjamin Tucker. 
 Another rather humorous matter which happened about 
 this time at school was about a boy who was called "Phil." 
 He was the pet and idol of his mother, who took a pair of 
 his father's old pants and made him a pair from them, but 
 the trouble was that the cloth was not sufficient for the 
 garment, and resulted in their being too small and too 
 tight in the body when his burley form was encased there- 
 in, and became as solid as a drumhead, and we had a popu- 
 lar game called hard ball and the mischievous fellows se 
 lected him as a special target, and when the ball struck him 
 plumb it rebounded as if it was rubber, but at last he got 
 tired of being made a butt of ridicule and a target in the 
 game, so he complained to his mother and she reported the 
 matter to our teacher, requesting that gentleman that the 
 boys should be made to stop the treatment to her son; 
 the Count, after giving it careful consideration, told his 
 
14 
 mother that the only remedy that he could suggest was to 
 get her boy a new and a more roomy pair of trousers, and 
 cast the old ones which had caused his annoyance aside. 
 Our old teacher was a good and faithful one, and if his 
 pupils did not profit by his knowledge and training, it 
 surely was not his fault. He possessed of course some ob- 
 jectionable habits, such as when school closed he would 
 get on a ''spree" and remain on it until school was as- 
 sembled for work, when all traces of his riotous living had 
 disappeared. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 My brother, Miles Macon, afterwards commander of the 
 Fayette Artillery, Confederate States Army, joined me at 
 "Woodland" and became a scholar in our school; he was 
 my senior by two years. Our country life there was very 
 pleasant, for on Saturdays we would hunt birds all day, as 
 my brother owned a fine pointer dag named "Roscoe," 
 and we were hunting on "Spring Garden," owned by 
 Judge Meredith, it being about seven miles from our place, 
 when the old dog broke down from the infirmities of age 
 and Miles and I carried him home on our shoulders, it be- 
 ing his last appearance in the fields that he had so success- 
 fully hunted, for he died soon afterwards. 
 
 About this period politics were coming strongly to the 
 front, and I remember when Mr. Chastaine White was 
 nominated by the Democrats for the General Assembly, 
 and William C. Wickham was put up by the Whig party 
 for the same office. My brother, Dr. Macon, was a Whig, 
 and a friend and supporter of Wickham. The Democrat 
 was of course elected, as at that time a Whig stood no show, 
 however superior his qualification for the position might 
 
15 
 be. Another feature of the times was the muster of the 
 county militia, when the colonel commandant, arrayed in 
 a uniform as gorgeous as that of a field marshall of France, 
 put his men through a few drill evolutions and then dis- 
 banded them, after which all hands went willingly up and 
 took a drink, and it was a field day, for Mr. Ellett who 
 then kept ' ' Old Church ' ' Tavern and profited greatly by 
 the crowd's liberal spending of money. 
 
 There were two churches near "Woodland," the Presby- 
 terian was called "Bethlehem," a name connected with 
 many good associations ; the other was an Episcopal one, 
 and named "Emmanuel," which name suggests many 
 Christian ideas. As a boy I attended both these churches, 
 and noticed one thing particularly that was that the male 
 attendants, both communicants and non-communicants, 
 gathered on the outside and discussed farming and neigh- 
 boring topics and conditions generally. I also observed 
 that those living a long distance from the church always 
 dined with some friend near the church, this being, I 
 thought, simply a species of "whacking" which was quite 
 admissable under the circumstances. 
 
 The planters, who owned and cultivated large estates 
 on the river, built summer residences on the higher lands 
 of the same, in order to escape the malaria and chills, pro- 
 duced by the miasma arising from the marshes exposed to 
 the sun and night air at low tide during the heated term, 
 which the first killing frost in the fall would dispel and ren- 
 der the river residents healthy and comfortable when they 
 would all return to their estates. I have never in my trav- 
 els seen a more productive country in the State than the 
 famous low grounds bordering the Pamunkey river, begin- 
 ning about Hanover Town and continuing down that 
 stream to the celebrated "White House " plantation in New 
 
16 
 Kent County, which estate originally belonged to General 
 Custis, who was the first husband of Martha Washington 
 (nee Dandridge). 
 
 Dr. William Macon, my brother, about this time came 
 into possession of the Mount Prospect plantation in New 
 Kent County, on the Pamunkey River, left to him by our 
 grandfather, Colonel William Hartwell Macon, it being 
 then one of the finest farms on the river; it adjoined the 
 famous White House aforementioned, which latter planta- 
 tion was inherited and occupied later by General William 
 H. Fitzhugh Lee, son of the famous General Robert E. Lee, 
 of Confederate fame. 
 
 The York- River railroad passed through a portion of the 
 "Mt. Prospect farm." A noted feature of the place was 
 its very large and beautiful garden, almost every flower 
 and plant known to Eastern Virginia florists was to be 
 found there, and considerable expense had been made to 
 render it a veritable Garden of Eden ; and then, alas ! when 
 the great strife began between the North and the South, 
 and our beloved old State became the battleground of the 
 contending hosts of soldiers of both sides, and the Federal 
 army, under General McClellan, advanced up the penin- 
 sula from Fort Monroe the farm became the camping 
 ground, and his cavalry was picketted in that lovely spot, 
 amid the almost priceless roses and violets, and needless 
 to add that when those horsemen left it was a pitiable scene 
 of "horrid war's desolating effects, as hardly a trace of 
 its former beauty and vision of refinement remained. 
 
 A gentleman, Colonel Grandison Crump, taught school 
 near the place, and I was made a scholar of his; it was 
 quite like that of Count Larry's, except that the Colonel 
 had no girls in his school. He sat is the same kind of arm- 
 chair, and made and trimmed quill pens in the very same 
 
17 
 way. He was a most excellent teacher and I fairly buckled 
 down to hard study, and as a consequence learned more 
 then ever before, or indeed afterwards, at school. Our 
 teacher was not a young man, as he was near sixty years 
 of age, and was deeply enamored with a certain beautiful 
 girl living in Charles City County adjoining; a Miss Maria 
 Jerdone was the fortunate one, a most attractive girl, and 
 quite young enough to be his daughter, but which did not 
 prevent the old Colonel from loving her with all the ardor 
 of youth. He was then living in the family of Mr. Braxton 
 Garlick at "Waterloo" plantation, on the Pamunkey, 
 which gentleman was one of the most hospitable men that 
 ever lived, and who joked with the Colonel about his at- 
 tentions to the young lady, but which did not dampen his 
 ardor towards her, though he did not gain his suit, as she 
 afterwards married a Mr. Pettus, an A. M. of the Univer- 
 sity of Virginia, who taught, and was the principal of a 
 female academy in Tennessee ; they made a very handsome 
 bridal couple, but she did not long survive the wedding, 
 and Mr. Pettus married, as his second wife, a Miss Turner, 
 and removed to Richmond, Va., where he had the misfor- 
 tune to lose his second wife by death. 
 
 About this date I, who had grown to be a good-sized boy, 
 remember well going down to New Kent Courthouse to see 
 the cavalry troop with their new and very shody uniforms 
 of light blue cloth with silver trimmings and metal helmet, 
 with white plumes. This old company, one of the oldest 
 in the State, was then officered as follows : Captain, Brax- 
 ton Garlick; first lieutenant, George T. Brumley, with 
 Southey Savage as orderly sergeant. On this occasion, af- 
 ter the commanding officer had put the troopers through a 
 few drilling paces, all of them, officers and private soldiers, 
 with one accord repaired to the tavern bar room and there 
 
18 
 regaled themselves with several fine juleps each ; this treat 
 had been set up by Captain Garlick, and he expected each 
 man to do his duty in this valiant attack upon the enemy's 
 fort, and truly was he not disappointed therein, although 
 it was one of the hottest days I ever felt in the month of 
 May. 
 
 Not far from my brother's residence, where I was then 
 living, lived a man named Tip Rabineau, a unique charac- 
 ter, his ways and dress were both similar to that of the 
 person described as Dominie Sampson in Sir Walter Scott's 
 novel "Guy Mannering. " Tip was about six feet and two 
 inches in height; he wore his pants too short and 
 coat sleeves not long enough to cover his big wrists, 
 and yet he had an accomplishment which gave him 
 much distinction in the neighborhood as being one 
 of the most successful hunters to be found anywhere 
 around, ranking as one of the best shots in Hanover Coun- 
 ty. He used always a single-barreled shot-gun that meas- 
 ured about six feet in length and carried powder in a small 
 round gourd, and the shot in a canvass shot-bag ; for load- 
 ing this muzzle-loader he used newspaper for wadding ; 
 the bore of this weapon was but little larger than a ladies ' 
 thimble, but with this primitive outfit he brought down a 
 bird every time he fired at one. What finally became of 
 Rabineau I know not since I lost sight of him. 
 
 Colonel Frank G. Ruffin, just before the beginning of the 
 war, at my brother's invitation, came down to Mount Pros- 
 pect, our home then, for the puprose of lecturing on agri- 
 culture to the farmers at New Kent Courthouse, on a court 
 day, where a large crowd had assembled to hear him, and 
 although whether theoretical or scientific farming had then 
 attained the high degree it now enjoys is a matter of much 
 doubt, yet he imparted to his listeners in a very pleasing 
 
19 
 and instructive manner, many valuable ideas on the sub- 
 ject of the new way of tilling "old mother earth"; how 
 poor, thin soil could be made to yield as much as the richest 
 Pamunkey low grounds under his advanced system of cul- 
 tivation. Of course there were some present who believed 
 the Colonel, and others who did not fully accept his the- 
 ories, for as a matter of fact, he was considered one of the 
 least practical of the prominent farmers in the State, but 
 one of the best theoretical ones. We passed a very pleas- 
 ant day at the courthouse and I enjoyed, on our return 
 home, as a boy, great pleasure and instruction from his 
 most interesting and amusing conversation. Ah, indeed ! 
 was those the flush times in the old Commonwealth, the like 
 of which will never again be known. 
 
 At about the period I am writing the York River rail- 
 road was being built from Richmond in an easterly direc- 
 tion about forty miles to West Point, in King AVilliam 
 County, at the head of York River, and the junction of two 
 rivers, the Pamunkey and the Mattaponi. The young men, 
 the civil engineers employed about the surveying and con- 
 struction of this work frequently visited "Mount Pros- 
 pect," it being convenient to the camp, and we all enjoyed 
 their society very much indeed, they being polished gentle- 
 men, whose presence was an agreeable addition to any 
 company; among them I can recall the names of Major 
 * E. T. D. Myers, General J. M. St. John, Colonel Jno. G. 
 Clarke, Colonel Henry T. Douglass and others whose names 
 I fail to remember now, but all were then young, intelligent 
 men, each of whom afterwards attained important military 
 positions in the Confederate service during the war which 
 soon followed their railroad building on the peninsula. 
 Colonel Clarke, above mentioned, subsequently married my 
 sister, Lucy Selden. 
 
20 
 
 The majority of them have now passed from this life 
 on earth to join those on the "other side of the river," 
 though their names and deeds are revered by their survi- 
 vors. No State, nor country ever produced a braver or 
 more accomplished group of heroes than they were. 
 
 Well, after attending Colonel Crumps' school for three 
 years, when he closed for the summer vacation I bid fare- 
 well to his excellent tutorship. There were many quite 
 pleasant associations connected with my school days there ; 
 I was considered one of his best boys ; I packed up my few 
 belongings there and returned to Auburn, my mother's 
 home. My respected father died in the year 1852, and my 
 mother then carried on the farming operations under the 
 supervision of our servant Israel as her head man and over- 
 seer, who was one of the most efficient and faithful negroes 
 I ever knew, performing his duties fully and satisfactorily 
 to his mistress as manager of the hands. 
 
 Two of my sisters were then married, Sister Anne to Mr. 
 Peyton Johnston, the senior member of the drug house of 
 P. Johnston & Brothers, of Richmond ; my other sister, 
 Betty, married the Rev. Dr. Alexander Martin, of the Pres- 
 byterian Church in Danville, Va. Probably no minister in 
 that denomination had a higher reputation for pulpit ora- 
 tory ; he preached with force and effect, and set an example 
 of a pure, unselfish, Christian life. 
 
 After consulting the wishes of her single daughters my 
 good mother decided to move to Richmond. She therefore 
 rented a nice roomy house in a pleasant street in the city, 
 and then a new leaf in the book of life was turned for me, 
 as I of course continued to live with the family, but an era, 
 or epoch in my journey of life now confronted me, as I 
 was about to start to work to earn my own bread and meat. 
 I therefore duly made application to the firm of Parker, 
 
21 
 
 Nimms & Co. for a clerkship in their establishment, and the 
 senior partner told me to call in a few days for an answer, 
 which I accordingly did in due time and received a favor- 
 able one, and in a few days I began my life's work. I re- 
 mained with that firm six years and only left in 1861 to 
 join, or rather to go with the First Company Richmond 
 Howitzers into the great war between the States, being a 
 member before the same strife began, having joined in the 
 year 1859 when the company was organized. The house of 
 Parker, Nimms & Co. was one of the largest wholesale dry- 
 goods houses in Virginia at that time. When a young man 
 commenced his apprenticeship in a dry goods store, it took 
 some time to become acquainted with the routine of the 
 business ; it was about twelve months before I was allowed 
 to carry a customer through it. It was not then as now 
 when there is a salesman in separate departments and buy- 
 ers are taken to another counter and clerks ; but then in 
 my day when a salesman started with a customer or pur- 
 chaser he carried him or her through every department 
 until the memorandum of the buyer was complete. It was 
 then considered quite undignified for houses of established 
 reputation and standing to advertise their wares in the 
 newspapers; how different it is now, when most of the 
 articles are sold through the aid of printer's ink ; then they 
 were sold upon their merits and intrinsic values, and also 
 by means of an agreeable mode of showing them off. The 
 house had a large patronage in the city as well as from all 
 parts of the State. By degrees I advanced and became fa- 
 miliar with the whole business, and my sales were footing 
 up well, which gave satisfaction to my employers, and con- 
 sequently my salary was advanced, that being a very im- 
 portant point to me. 
 
 The following incident occurred to a Colonel Jos. Weisi- 
 
22 
 ger, who was a fellow clerk in the house of Parker, Nimms 
 & Co. ; he was a very genial man, and had heen the hus- 
 band of the daughter of a wealthy planter, Colonel Boiling, 
 who had settled on his daughter a handsome endowment 
 at the time of her marriage, devising all the property at 
 her death to the children by the marriage ; so that when 
 she died a few years later not a single dollar fell to the 
 husband and he was then thrown out upon his own re- 
 sources for his living. Under such circumstances, he ap- 
 plied to the firm of Parker, Nimms & Co. for a position as 
 salesman and he was given one. He was at the time wait- 
 ing on a widow, Mrs. S , whose deceased husband had 
 
 left her a fine estate, on the condition of her not again tak- 
 ing unto herself a help-mate, in which latter case all of the 
 property should go to her children by her former husband. 
 She hesitated some time before again marrying the Colonel, 
 the meanwhile became very attentive to her, visiting her 
 frequently, and as she was very fond of peanuts he bought 
 a nice lot of roasted ones, tied them up nicely in a box, and 
 placed them, as he thought, in a perfectly safe spot; when 
 another clerk and I slyly opened the package, took out the 
 "goobers," and replaced them with paper and saw-dust. 
 Well, the fond lover, the Colonel, called on her and gaily 
 presented the box, and her disappointment and his great 
 mortification may be imagined when its contents were ex- 
 posed to view. 
 
 There was another incident which happened during one 
 of the hottest summers in Richmond, when the mercury 
 ranged from ninety-five to ninety-eight degrees in the 
 shade ; the clerks in the store took it by turns in the after- 
 noon to go down into the basement, where it was cool and 
 dark, and stretch themselves out on a pile of goods for a 
 quiet nap, as there was nothing much doing up stairs. So 
 
23 
 one afternoon I went down there for my turn to sleep and 
 fixed myself very comfortably ; was soon sleeping as sweet- 
 ly as an infant, when down came Weisiger, on mischief 
 bent, took away my gaiters that I had removed from my 
 feet and filled them up with paper, stuffed and rammed in 
 hard, after which he placed them some distance from where 
 I was, and then sprinkled water in the space between ; he 
 then went to the top of the stairs and called loudly for me, 
 which of course awakened me, and I hurriedly reached for 
 my shoes, but they were gone, and in order to reach them 
 I had to walk on a wet floor in my sock feet, and hunt for 
 them, but I finally found them and got things straight, 
 to find out, when I went up stairs, that the thing was but 
 a good joke on me. I told him that I certainly would get 
 even with him yet on that ; so some two or three evenings 
 later he went down stairs for the same purpose and he was 
 sleeping soundly when I got some paper, the kind that 
 comes on blocks of ribbons, and made a funnel ; I then took 
 some lamp-black and placed in the top of it, going down I 
 gave the funnel a whiff and the whole contents went on his 
 face, and the more he rubbed it the worse it became, so he 
 came up stairs one of the most furious creature that ever 
 I saw. A fellow-clerk, a Mr. Cagbill, furnished him with 
 soap and turpentine, and assisted him in applying it so 
 that his face was once more restored to its normal state, 
 and finally pacified him by saying, well you played a good 
 practical joke on Macon, who took it in a good spirit, and 
 now one who cannot take a joke, should not play one on 
 others. The Colonel was an old time Virginia gentleman 
 and we afterwards became the best of friends, and often 
 laughed at our tricks of other days. 
 
 The dry goods house of Binford, Mayo & Blair was one 
 of the largest and best in Richmond. Mr. Binford was the 
 
24 
 managing head of the firm, and they had a customer from 
 the southside, who was a large tobacco planter, and came 
 to the city twice a year, bringing with him a memorandum 
 for dry goods to be purchased nearly a yard long, and the 
 first thing he would do on reaching town was to visit the 
 store and hand in his list of supplies — his memorandum — 
 asking that it be filled in the best maoner, and with reason- 
 able prices, and when he collected from his commission 
 merchant he would call and pay his bill before leaving for 
 his home, which he never failed to do, and being a regular 
 customer the thing went on year after year to the satisfac- 
 tion of both parties. At last the planter died and his wife 
 took his place and attended to his affairs in the city; she 
 accordingly visited the store. Mr. Binford met her and 
 tendered his sympathy in her misfortune and after a few 
 minutes of conversation she drew out her long list and 
 asked to be shown several articles and their prices, after 
 examining them she remarked to Mr. Binford, I wish to 
 look around some before purchasing and will return and 
 go through with my bill. She called upon and went care- 
 fully over the stock of every house in that line in Rich- 
 mond in order to see if he had been overcharging her hus- 
 band. She returned to the store in the evening. Mr. Bin- 
 ford having preceded her but a few moments and was re- 
 marking to a clerk that he wished the old lady had died in- 
 stead of her husband, who always came to town, gave me 
 his memorandum to fill and everything worked smoothly, 
 and now she comes in and runs around to every store in 
 the city, almost ; she heard every word he said, but instead 
 of taking offense, she ''pitched in," and went through her 
 bill without a hitch. There was another incident in the 
 Binford, Mayo & Blair house ; it appears that one of the 
 salesmen by the name of William Perkins, who was a bright 
 
25 
 fellow, and a good clerk, had one especial accomplishment, 
 that of being one of the best draw-poker players in the 
 city, indulging in that game frequently. One morning the 
 senior member of the firm called Perkins to go down stairs 
 as he wished to have a little private talk with him. Mr. 
 Perkins, said he, I am informed that you play cards a great 
 deal. Perkins replied, sir, do I perform my duty satisfac- 
 torily to your house? Is there anything in my conduct 
 here displeasing to you? If so, please let me know now. 
 Mr. Binford said, sir, you are an efficient salesman, and we 
 are well pleased with you. Mr. Perkins thei) said, well 
 Mr. Binford, I do not understand why you should bring 
 me down here to lecture me, to which he gravely replied, 
 Perkins have you any real good pointers in draw-poker? 
 Perkins told him that he thought he had, when Mr. Bin- 
 ford said, then press them, which remark ended the con- 
 ference in peace and harmony. 
 
 Richmond about this time had some prominent hotels 
 and restaurants, among the latter were "Zetelle's," Tom 
 Griffin's, Charles Thompson's, and several others. There 
 were no dairy lunches, nor snack-houses in town. Cold 
 storage had not then come to the front. When a gentle- 
 man entered a restaurant and ordered a piece of roast 
 beef, or a steak, he got home-killed beef, fat, tender and 
 rich in flavor, and when he called for oysters they were 
 set before him cooked with pure country butter, or gen- 
 uine fresh hog's lard, and not cotton-seed oil. Coffee was 
 then made of Java mixed with a little Rio, and not colored 
 water, as is found at some of the eating houses of the day. 
 To be sure one had to pay a little more for such a repast, 
 yet he generally received full value for his money. 
 
 Age and experience have improved many thinks in the 
 city, yet I do not believe that the restaurants of the pres- 
 
26 
 ent time are as good as they were then. Among the hotels, 
 the Columbian, owned and conducted by Mr. Spottswood 
 Crenshaw, who was succeeded by Mr. Sublett, was situated 
 at the corner of Cary Street and Shockoe Slip, and was 
 the most popular hostelry for tobacco planters. It was 
 very well kept, the table was supplied with the very best 
 the market afforded ; a marked feature of its dinners was 
 that pitchers of toddy were freely distributed to refresh 
 the thirsty guests. There was also the ' ' American, ' ' which 
 occupied the site of the Lexington— of the year 1912 — at 
 the corner of Main and Twelfth Streets. The Exchange 
 and Ballard on East Franklin and Fourteenth Streets, was 
 regarded as the leading hotel, and it was one of the finest 
 houses of its time ; it was kept first by Colonel Boykin and 
 afterwards by John P. Ballard and brothers, and last by 
 Colonel Carrington. In those days there were no transfer 
 companies, and each ran its own omnibus to bring to and 
 fro the guests from the railway stations and steamboats. 
 I well remember one of Mr. Ballard's teams, consisting of 
 four fine iron-grey horses which he drove to one of his 
 turnouts, and they were beauties, being driven by a negro- 
 whip, who knew how to handle them to advantage. 
 
 At this period of time I was living in the country, and 
 came to the city to attend the ceremony of laying the cor- 
 ner-stone of the Washington Monument in the Capitol 
 Square. It was during the administration of Governor 
 Jno. B. Floyd, and it was one of the worst days I ever ex- 
 perienced, being cold, rainy, and snowing, all the military 
 of the city, besides the cadets from the Virginia Military 
 Institute, of Lexington, were in the parade. It took sev- 
 eral years to build the foundation for the monument, and 
 then some time elapsed before the equestrian statue of 
 Washington, which was designed by Crawford, arrived by 
 
27 
 steamer from New York, when it was hauled from Rockets 
 wharf on a flat with a long rope attached to it and drawn 
 to its destination in the Capitol Square by citizens and 
 placed it on its pedestal. When it was soon afterwards 
 unveiled it was a "red-letter day'' in Richmond and in 
 the history of the State. This splendid triumph in sculp- 
 ture dedicated to the renowned "Father of his country" 
 stands this day where it was erected more than a half- 
 century ago, and is considered by good judges to be the 
 finest equestrian statue in the United States ; it is sur- 
 rounded by heroic size figures in bronze of several eminent 
 Virginians. 
 
 The retail grocery stores were a prominent element of 
 the city of Richmond's business, being an important part 
 of its commercial greatness. Among them there were the 
 firms of Walter D. Blair & Co., the senior member a genial 
 gentleman whose elegant manners not only retained all of 
 his old customers, but drew many new ones to his attractive 
 store ; William M. Harrison, Joseph Weed & Son and 
 George Dandridge. These all kept liquors, as well as gro- 
 ceries. Mr. Dandridge had a clerk who was a good sales- 
 man and advanced the interests of his employer in every 
 way he could, and yet he had one failing, being an honest 
 frequent drinker, so one day his employer called him back 
 to the rear of the store and said, now sir, you are a good 
 salesman, and also a good man, and I have but one fault 
 to find with you, namely, you take a drink with every cus- 
 tomer that comes in here ; yes, he answered I do, and if 
 they don't come in fast enough I drink by myself, just to 
 keep my hand in, and to encourage trade. Mr. Dandridge 
 retained him in his employ and he finally became a mem- 
 ber of the firm. The retail dry goods houses were dis- 
 tinguished for their efficiency and size ; there were on Main 
 
28 
 Street five or six and about the same number on Broad 
 Street. I recall particularly the prominent one of Mann 
 S. Valentine, who was one of the most successful merchants 
 of Richmond. His son, Mann S. Valentine, Jr., was the 
 discoverer of the formula for extracting and manufactur- 
 ing for commerce the fluid extract of beef, known as "Val- 
 entine's Meat Juice," which at his death fell to his sons, 
 who organized the Valentine Meat Juice Company, which 
 has proved a boon to humanity, particularly to invalids. 
 The enterprising firm conducts a very large export, as well 
 as a domestic trade, and is composed of intelligent and pro- 
 gressive business men. Mr. M. S. Valentine, Jr., the found- 
 ed of the present house, at his death, through his muni- 
 ficence, established and endowed the well known Valen- 
 tine Museum, which is a lasting monument to his memory. 
 It is kept in the best manner by his sons, who feel a great 
 pride in it. Within its spacious rooms are to be found 
 many of the finest relics of the arts of antiquity, and also 
 specimens of Virginian and Southern fossils and curi- 
 osities, which have been collected and placed here at great 
 expense and trouble. The building occupied by the Mu- 
 seum was originally purchased from James G. Brooks, and 
 he, from Mr. Jno. P. Ballard, and he bought it from Mr. 
 Wickham, so it is associated with historic memories, and 
 it is truly one of the most interesting places in the city, 
 and is visited daily by thousands of strangers visiting 
 Richmond, as well as by the residents of the city. Mr. Ed- 
 ward S. Valentine is one of the most famous sculptors of 
 his day, who designed and created out of Italian marble 
 the celebrated recumbent statue of General Robert E. Lee, 
 now in the chapel of Washington and Lee University at 
 Lexington, Virginia. This is considered one of the best 
 specimens of the fine arts in the world. Indeed it is an 
 
29 
 effigy in marble which produces mingled emotions of ad- 
 miration and awe, as it lies there in its silent vault il- 
 lumined by electric lamps in its darkened chamber. 
 
 The wholesale grocery houses of Richmond at this time 
 were large and served their purpose well. I recall to mem- 
 ory the firms of E. & S. Wortham & Co., which did a very 
 large business, having the patronage from the extensive 
 plantations on the Pamunkey River in grain and produce. 
 Also Stokes & Reeves, Selden & Miller, Hugh Fery & Sons, 
 and Dunlop & MeCauce, the latter firm dealt principally 
 in New Orleans sugars and molasses, carrying on the larg- 
 est business in that line of any house in the city. Next I 
 must mention the many tobacco manufacturers, which 
 business was a very important one, as it is now. The fac- 
 tories of James A. Grant, William H. Grant, William Grea- 
 nor, Robert A. Mayo & Son, James Thomas, Jr., and many 
 others, all did a tremendous trade in this lucrative busi- 
 ness. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 A unique feature was the agencies for hiring out negro 
 hands and servants, it forming a large part of the busi- 
 ness of the real estate men. Richmond was then said to 
 have one hundred tobacco factories in active operation. 
 
 My memory reverts to an interesting event in the year 
 I860, when Edward, the Prince of Wales, of the Royal 
 family of Great Britain, visited Richmond, coming here 
 from Washington with his retinue who were entertained 
 at the old Exchange and Ballard House — then in its prime. 
 The Prince stayed over Sunday and attended church at 
 Saint Paul's. Doctor Minnegerode was then the rector 
 of the parish, and he preached a good practical sermon for 
 the distinguished guests. I remember well seeing the 
 
30 
 Prince, who was then a beardless youth, of a good figure 
 and looks, he returned to the Capital City the next day, 
 pleased with his trip; it was an epoch in the history of 
 Virginia, socially speaking. Another incident was the lec- 
 ture delivered here by Mr. Thackery, the great novelist, 
 at the Athenaeum, which building was then just in the rear 
 of the Broad Street Methodist Church, the subject of the 
 lecture was the "Georges," and it was a chaste and inter- 
 esting address, full of anecdotes, with a vein of sarcasm 
 interspersed throughout. 
 
 Another lecture about this time was that of the Hon. 
 Edward Everett, delivered at the old African Church ; the 
 subject was General George Washington. He was lectur- 
 ing under the auspices of the Mount Vernon Association 
 for the purchase of that place from its owners. The Mount 
 Vernon papers which were then published by Mr. Bowner 
 in the New York Ledger, were edited by him, and this 
 address by him here was a literary treat, as was every- 
 thing emenating from his cultivated mind; the cburch 
 was filled with a highly appreciative audience, and all went 
 home well pleased. 
 
 The local politics were to some extent interesting, as al- 
 most every man discussed them in public. The African 
 Church was used on Sundays as a negro meeting house for 
 worship, and during the week for political gatherings by 
 the white people, it being the largest in town. The colored 
 people were of course paid for the use of their church 
 building. When a person announced his candidacy for any 
 office in the gift of the people, he was requested to define 
 his position and views on the questions of the day. For 
 instance when the subject of a free bridge between Rich- 
 mond and Manchester over the James River was debated 
 
31 
 the people were called upon to express their ideas pro and 
 con in the old African Church. 
 
 There was a prominent local politician by the name of 
 George Peake, who whenever a speaker uttered a senti- 
 ment of which he approved, would emphasize it by loudly 
 exclaiming, "Why, certainly," and everybody knew where 
 the voice came from, as he was notorious. On one occa- 
 sion I was present at a meeting when a Mr. Martin Mere- 
 dith Lipscomb was a candidate for the office of city ser- 
 geant, he was an illiterate man, but had the conceit and 
 obstinacy of a government mule, and was arguing the point 
 that when a man was born on the lower round of the social 
 ladder he should not be debarred from rising to the upper 
 ones, and to illustrate his point said he, now suppose I had 
 been born in a stable, just then some wag in the crowd in- 
 terrupted him by yelling out, then, sir, you would have 
 been a mule ; this rudeness silenced the speaker for a mo- 
 ment, but without taking any notice of it, he resumed his 
 argument. This Mr. Lipscomb was a notorious office-seeker 
 and never failed to announce himself as a candidate for 
 almost every position from the mayoralty down to a con- 
 stable, for nothing seem to daunt "old Martin Meredith," 
 as he was called, in his attempts to hold some office, al- 
 though failure was his only reward. 
 
 In the celebrated campaign, just before the great war, 
 for Governor between Henry A. Wise, the nominee of the 
 Democracy, and the Hon. Stanhope Flournoy, the cham- 
 pion of the Whig party, the "Know-nothings" excitement 
 was in its incipiency and they supported the Whigs in this 
 contest. Hon. Henry AVinter Davis, of Maryland, one of 
 the best political orators of his day, spoke in advocacy of 
 "Know-nothingism, " and his remarks were good and con- 
 vincing from his standpoint, but the strong logic, and Her- 
 
32 
 culean thrusts of Mr. Wise utterly destroyed the fallacies 
 of the opposition, and the Know-nothing party died, then 
 and there. Governor Wise was one of the most gifted and 
 forcible, as well as interesting, speakers in the State. At 
 this time there were many fine public speakers ; I will men- 
 tion Mr. John Minor Botts, an old-line Whig, one of the 
 most accomplished orators of Virginia, he spoke but sel- 
 dom and only on important occasions. Another prominent 
 one was Marmaduke Johnson, a distinguished lawyer of 
 the city, who was never surpassed in eloquence. There 
 was also Colonel Thomas P. August, whose addresses were 
 always received with delight by an audience of his fellow 
 citizens. Mr. John Caskie, who represented the city and 
 district in Congress ; he was a very fluent and convincing 
 speaker, and it was a forensic treat to listen to him. There 
 were many others whose acquirements in oratory were not 
 easily equalled before, or since, this day and time. 
 
 Richmond about this period of its history was in its 
 prime, and prospects were very bright. The churches 
 were an important feature; among the most prominent 
 were old St. John's, on that part of the city called "Church 
 Hill. ' ' In this venerable edifice, Patrick Henry delivered 
 that celebrated speech, which kindled the first sparks, that 
 fired the colonies to burst into rebellion against the ty- 
 ranny of old King George the Third. Also there was the 
 Methodist Church, which stood originally between Four- 
 teenth and Fifteenth Streets on East Franklin, the congre- 
 gation of which removed to their new building now on 
 Broad Street. The Second Presbyterian, on Franklin then 
 occupied the site of Randolph's paper box factory; this 
 congregation built a fine house at the corner of Fifth and 
 Main Streets. The pastor of this was one of the most cele- 
 brated divines of his day; he was succeeded by the dis- 
 
33 
 tinguished pulpit orator Doctor Moses Hoge. The First 
 Presbyterian originally stood where the City Hall now 
 rears its lofty towers, and a large and more modern 
 church was erected at the corner Of Grace and Madison 
 Streets. Doctor Moore was for a long time the beloved 
 pastor of this congregation. The Monumental Episcopal, 
 with so many historic associations clustering around it, 
 was built on the spot occupied by the old Richmond The- 
 ater, which years ago was burned to the ground, consum- 
 ing many of the most esteemed and prominent citizens of 
 the city and State. Doctor Woodbridge filled the pulpit 
 of this sacred building for many years, and never was there 
 a purer and holier minister of Christ. I remember well 
 some of the vestrymen, such men as Mr. James Gardner, 
 Mr. George Fisher, and others of the same stamp; they 
 were as good men as the world ever produced, and their 
 memory is held in kindest remembrance by all who knew 
 them. Next, in point of age and reverence, I mention Saint 
 Paul's Episcopal, situated at the corner of Grace and Ninth 
 Streets. If all the religious and historic memories of this 
 church were fully recounted it would almost suffice to fill 
 a volume. General Robert E. Lee's family attended this 
 church, as did also the General, whenever he visited his 
 home during the progress of the great war, although he 
 was seldom away from the front. Miss Hettie Carey and 
 General John Pegram were married there, just before the 
 end of the hostilities, and if my memory serves me, about a 
 week later his lifeless body rested upon a bier in front of 
 the altar, where he had so short a time before plighted his 
 troth to his beautiful and most gifted bride. Doctor Min- 
 negerode was the rector of this parish and he was one of 
 the best theologians in the Episcopal denomination, was 
 a distinguished professor at the Theological Seminary near 
 
34 
 Alexandria, Virginia, when called to the charge of St. 
 Paul's. It was while President Jefferson Davis was wor- 
 shipping in this sanctuary on a sabbath morning, that a 
 message informed him of the fall of Petersburg, Va. One 
 of the largest and most influential congregations worship- 
 ped in Saint James Episcopal Church, whose first minister 
 for a long time was Doctor Empie, who was succeeded as 
 rector by the venerated and most beloved of pastors, the 
 Reverend Joshua Peterkin, of sacred memory, who was 
 regarded by all as a beacon light of undefiled Christianity, 
 and a lowly follower of the Blessed Saviour of mankind. 
 
 The Church of "All Saints," on West Franklin Street, 
 though one of the youngest Episcopal congregations, is one 
 of the very best and most popular. Doctor Downman, the 
 rector, is a man of ripe scholarship in divinity and of sterl- 
 ing piety. The vestrymen of "All Saints" are ever to the 
 front in every deed of charity, and for the amelioration 
 and uplifting of suffering humanity. I recall as members 
 of this vestry Mr. F. S. Valentine, Mr. John Tyler, Mr. 
 Peter H. Mayo, and several other well known citizens. 
 
 St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church, at the corner of 
 Grace and Eighth Streets, is one of the oldest churches in 
 Richmond. I remember when Bishops McGill and Keane 
 officiated there. There was once a theological discussion 
 carried on through the newspapers between the Bishop 
 McGill and Doctor Plummer, of the Presbyterian denomi- 
 nation, who were two intellectual giants, and were well 
 matched in vigor and zeal. 1 recall an amusing incident : 
 there lived out on the Brook Turnpike a certain lady 
 who drove to church every Sunday to her carriage, a 
 pair of rat-tailed sorrel horses that always came quietly 
 down the street to the church, but when their mistress 
 was once in the vehicle, and their heads were turned home- 
 
35 
 wards, after services were over, they ran at a sharp 
 gallop all the way until they reached the front gate at 
 their home. 
 
 A very attractive feature of these churches was the 
 fine choir music, which I am sure has never been sur- 
 passed. I remember when the choir of Monumental was 
 composed of Mr. John Tyler, Miss Emily Denison and 
 other noted vocalists, while at the organ presided Mr. Leo 
 "Wheat. "When the funeral services were held there of 
 Major Wheat, the commander of the New Orleans Tigers, 
 who was killed at Cold Harbor in 1862, Miss Denison 
 sang a solo, entitled "I Would Not Live Always." I 
 thought it one of the sweetest and most pathetic hymns 
 that I ever heard. At Saint Paul's Madam Rhul was the 
 leading soprano, and her notes were as sweet as the warb- 
 ling of a mocking bird. On one occasion I heard her 
 when she sang that fine old hymn, "Jesus, Lover of My 
 Soul, ' ' to the air of ' ' When the Swallows Homeward Fly, ' ' 
 and indeed I do not believe that it has ever been sur- 
 passed in that grand old edifice. 
 
 Among the many interests, commercially speaking, 
 were the real estate firms, for instance I mention, Goddin 
 and Apperson, Taylor and Williams, Hill and Rawlings 
 and Holliday and Rawlings. The movement of real prop- 
 erty then was not quite so lively as it is now, but never- 
 theless they all did a fair business. 
 
 Another important business was that of the wholesale 
 drug houses, among the largest were, Purcell, Ladd & 
 Co., Peyton Johnston and Brother, Adie and Gray, Wil- 
 liam Beers & Co. ; and I doubt if there has ever been any 
 larger houses in that line, before or since. Their trade 
 was extensive and came from all parts of the State, and 
 neighboring States to the south. There was then no sell- 
 
36 
 
 ing goods through travelling salesmen by samples, but the 
 purchasers came in person direct to headquarters and 
 laid in their supplies. 
 
 Another leading feature of Richmond's make-up was 
 its corps of physicians. A man who is a specialist now- 
 adays in any particular calling is termed a doctor, but I 
 am now only alluding to the Doctors of Medicine — the 
 M. D.'s — the followers of Esculapius of yore. Among 
 these was first and foremost, Francis H. Deane, whose 
 presence even almost revived a patient; many sick fellows 
 recall his genial face when entering the sick chamber. He 
 practiced in our family over thirty years. Also there 
 was Doctor Cunningham, who was regarded as one of the 
 best ; Doctor Bell Gibson, who was esteemed the most emi- 
 nent surgeon in the State. Another noted surgeon was 
 Doctor Petticolas, whose general practice was very ex- 
 tensive. Then I must mention those great and good men, 
 Doctors Skelton and Knox, who were shining lights in 
 their profession, whose memory is cherished, as well as 
 that of old Doctors McCaw and Marks. 
 
 The wholesale shoe houses were a big item in the city's 
 mercantile life. Among the leading ones were Hubbard, 
 Gardner and Carlton, which concern did the largest busi- 
 ness in foot-wear in Richmond ; their trade was co-exten- 
 sive with the State. It is doubtful if there is now a house 
 in their line conducting a larger trade. Then there was 
 the old and staunch firm of Putney and Watts, and also 
 White and Page, besides several large retail stores. 
 
 At this gentlemen did not wear machine-made boots 
 and shoes, but had them to order by native shoemakers. 
 The fashionable footdress then was Congress gaiters and 
 boots ; Oxford ties were worn in the summer. The change 
 in men's attire is quite distinct, as formerly gentlemen wore 
 
37 
 broad-cloth made with a Prince Albert or frock coat with 
 pants and vests to match. A very popular style was a 
 blue cloth clawhammer coat with plain brass buttons. 
 Linen suits were much worn in the hot season. 
 
 At one time a Mr. Selden kept a large boarding house 
 called "The Richmond," which stood at the corner of 
 Governor and Ross Streets. It was a fine house and was 
 particularly popular with young clerks, and among the 
 boarders was a unique person named Beau Lambert, he 
 was a very fastidious man in his dress, always wearing 
 a fine black suit with a dress coat, and was particular in 
 parting the skirts of his coat on sitting down. Accord- 
 ingly one day Henry Thornton, a young fellow, full of 
 fun and tricks, took from the dinner table a dumpling 
 of meal out of a dish of jowl and turnip salad and slipped 
 it in Lambert's coat pocket. It was a very greasy and 
 disagreeable joke, and the Beau did not find out who was 
 the perpetrator for some days, and of course he was very 
 much displeased, but mutual friends arranged the matter 
 amicably, and they became good friends afterwards. 
 
 The gambling establishments were an important part 
 of the city's life at this juncture. The law against faro 
 banks was not strictly enforced as it is now. Their rooms 
 were elegantly furnished, and every night a sumptuous 
 supper was spread before their patrons, which was greatly 
 enjoyed by many planters coming to town to sell their 
 crops. Among the most popular ones were Worsham 
 and Brother, the Morgan Brothers and Nat Reeves. The 
 credit of these men was as good as that of any merchant 
 in town. I recall an incident in connection with these 
 games, to wit: There were three students at the medical 
 college who were gay and up-to-date boys, but were not 
 blessed with much cash, who frequently visited Mr. 
 
38 
 Reeve's rooms. On a certain Saturday night they went 
 out with a tumhrie cart to procure subjects for the college 
 to be dissected. They first backed up the cart in front 
 of his entrance, and then asked each other how much 
 money they had between them; one had a dollar and a 
 half, another two dollars and the other only fifty cents, 
 making all but three dollars, which was not enough with 
 which to get on a good "spree." So it was arranged, in 
 order to carry out their fun to the best advantage, in 
 the following manner, they appointed one as spokesman 
 to run the small sum in their pool at Mr. Reeves' bank 
 in a game of faro, and as the boy walked up to the cashier 
 to invest it in "chips," Mr. Reeves said, "I will not sell 
 you any, for if you should make a run on me you might 
 win from me several hundred dollars, and if I should 
 beat you in the game I should only gain three dollars," 
 and so, at these words, he took out of the drawer a ten- 
 dollar bank note and handed it to him, saying, "Now 
 boys go ahead, and don't come back here again tonight." 
 Now, that was all they wanted ; it played right into their 
 hands, for the money enabled them to pass a gay and 
 joyous night. These three youngsters afterwards grad- 
 uated well, and all of them became successful practi- 
 tioners of the "Art of Healing." 
 
 Before the beginning of the war between the States. In 
 those days on each "Fourth of July" picnics and bar- 
 becues were held. On one of these days I attended a 
 barbecue at Buchanan's Spring, which was then outside 
 the city in the county of Henrico. A large and enthu- 
 siastic crowd was present and there were various devices 
 for promoting mirth and pleasure. A Mr. James Fergu- 
 son, one of the city's most prominent merchants, was there, 
 and also Mr. William F. "Watson, a lawyer of high stand- 
 
39 
 ing. Mr. Ferguson was a man of fine figure and was con- 
 sidered one of the best dancers in town. Mr. Watson was 
 a portly man and weighed about two hundred and twenty- 
 pounds, and almost as broad as long. The weather was 
 very warm indeed, and it was arranged to dance an Irish 
 jig, there being no ladies present. They stripped off 
 everything but their underwear and they footed it out to 
 a finish, and it was called one of the best displays of that 
 lively dance that had been seen for many days. The 
 championship was awarded to Mr. "Watson. 
 
 One of the most noted military organizations in Rich- 
 mond at that time was the old State Guard, which occu- 
 pied the armory near the Tredegar Iron Works. It was 
 officered by Captain M. Dimmock, Lieutenant Gay and 
 Lieutenant Clarke, and was as well drilled as the cadets 
 at West Point. The officers frequently gave exhibitions 
 of drills on Capitol Square, and it was a treat to see their 
 skirmish drills, which drew a large concourse of spec- 
 tators, and was one of the most interesting sights I ever 
 witnessed. After the war the organization of the State 
 Guard was abolished. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Of the theaters of the city, the most prominent one 
 was the old "Marshall," which stood where the Meyer 
 Greentree furnishing store now is located, at the corner 
 of Seventh and Broad Streets. It was leased by Mr. 
 Taylor. The stock company was composed of some of 
 the most distinguished actors of the day, who have ap- 
 peared on the stage of this country. Among them were 
 Joseph Jefferson, Booth, John Owens, Adams, Boniface 
 and Mary Devlin, who afterwards married Edwin Booth. 
 
40 
 I remember seeing there Burton, in his famous role of 
 "Toodles"; Clarke, in "Our American Cousin," and 
 Neaffie, in "Hamlet," in which Jefferson took the char- 
 acter of the grave-digger. These have never been sur- 
 passed in America. 
 
 An entertaining gleaning is that respecting "Fairfield 
 race track," situated on the Mechanicsville Turnpike. 
 This was the most prominent race course of its day in the 
 State. It was run and owned by a Mr. James Talley, 
 who was one of the best horsemen in Virginia. When 
 the place was at its zenith it had a long string of race 
 horses in its stables, among thern being some of the most 
 celebrated the world has ever seen; there was the great 
 racer, and sire of racers, "Revenue," owned by Mr. Botts; 
 "Talley Ho," owned by Mr. Selden C. Mason; "Engi- 
 neer," a splendid grey; " Red-Eye, " sire of "Planet"; 
 Martha Washington, "Iina" and many others. These were 
 the very flowers of the thoroughbred stock of the South. 
 Every Sunday evening in the spring of the year the 
 horses were exercised around the course and were given 
 a "right sharp brush." Several of my friends and I 
 were in the habit of going out and viewing them while 
 at their exercises and it was well worth the while to 
 see such spurts of swift speeding. Truly those were the 
 palmy days of racing, and they will never again be re- 
 viewed in Virginia, at least in this part of the State, for 
 conditions are greatly changed. 
 
 I recall the heaviest fall of snow one spring while I was 
 living in Richmond that ever took place in the memory 
 of the oldest inhabitants ; it commenced on a Saturday 
 night and fell continuously until the Monday following. 
 I was then carrying the keys to the store of Parker, Nininio 
 & Co., and had to open the house with the assistance 
 
41 
 of the porter. We had to dig away the drift, which had 
 reached to the top of the door, before we could even see 
 it, let alone get in it. On that Sunday night a large fire 
 occurred near the Old Market House. It was so bitterly 
 cold during the snow spell that Doctor Cox, of Chester- 
 field county was frozen to death just as he was about 
 entering the gate to his farm. On Monday the tempera- 
 ture moderated and the younger ones had a galla time 
 snow-balling every one mounted or in sleighs that passed 
 on the main streets; each corner was occupied by squads, 
 who pelted them without mercy or hesitation. 
 
 There was in the city one George Washington Todd, 
 a beacon light of the sporting crowd. He was a man of 
 splendid physique, about six feet two inches in height and 
 built in proportion ; possessing a fine voice, a good deal of 
 wit and humor and the cheer of a brass monkey. He 
 had no moral reputation and no one would credit him. 
 On a certain day when there was a political meeting over 
 on the Eastern Shore, Governor Wise was one of the 
 speakers, and after the speaking was over Todd walked up 
 to the Governor and passed the compliments of the day 
 thus : Cousin Henry, how are you to day ? The Governor 
 replied I do not know of any relationship between us. 
 Todd then said, now, Governor, were you not born in Acco- 
 mack. He said yes. Well, then, as I was also born in 
 Accomack, does not that make us cousins? The cool 
 effrontery of the fellow somewhat astonished the Gov- 
 ernor. 
 
 A noticeable feature was the elegant jewelry establish- 
 ments. The most prominent were Mitchell and Tyler and 
 C. Genet & Co. Then a person thought they could not 
 buy a reliable article unless it came from one or the other 
 store. The first named, Mitchell and Tyler, enjoyed a 
 
42 
 very large and paying patronage. In their employ was 
 a gentleman "by the name of Hicks, who was at the head 
 of the watch-repairing department, and it required quite 
 an artist in that line to fill the position, as then the simple 
 American watches had not come into general use, for 
 those mostly carried were of Swiss and English or other 
 foreign makes. This gentleman was full of pleasing 
 humor and wit, and as he was in the front of the store, 
 when a person would enter and inquire for a certain 
 clerk by the name of Christian, he would jokingly say 
 that in the rear were several young men, some members 
 of the church, but whether a Christian could be found 
 among them he could not say. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 I was attending the races at Fairfield and it was a 
 field day. Of course there was a large crowd present, the 
 gambling stands were well patronized, as usual and at 
 one particular table there was a large farmer betting 
 very freely, who seemed to have plenty of money, and 
 a smart fellow who lived in the city observed the way 
 things were running, for every time the farmer put down 
 a bet the dealer would win and raked it in. So after that 
 every time the farmer would make a bet, this man would 
 put one down opposite, or bet against him, and this con- 
 tinued until the farmer had exhausted his pile ; the Rich- 
 mond man winning all the bets, which did not please the 
 dealer, who said to him, ''Why don't you let an honest 
 man make a living?" The man saw that the gambler 
 was fleecing the farmer, and he had coppered and won 
 of course, thus blocking the dealer's game. 
 
 President James Monroe's remains were brought to 
 
43 
 Richmond and interred in Hollywood Cemetery, having 
 as an escort of honor the famous Seventh Regiment of 
 New York. This was the finest volunteer military organ- 
 ization that I ever saw, it being the crack corps of that 
 city; they marched like a machine, their alignment was 
 perfect ; the uniforms were grey dress coats. The hospi- 
 tality of the people of the city was extensive and moat 
 cordial. The visitors were not allowed to open their 
 pocketbooks for anything purchasable ; even if they went 
 in for a cigar, it was already paid for, they were informed. 
 Being composed of the best citizens of the Metropolis, 
 gentlemen all, they did not abuse the privileges granted 
 them in the slightest degree. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Most important events were just on the eve of hap- 
 pening. The election for the national Presidency was 
 booming in the near future, and politics were attracting 
 the attention of the whole country. The two main parties 
 which were confronting each other were the Democratic 
 on the one side and on the other the Free Soil or Abolition 
 party of the North, which had united and formed the 
 Republican, the strength of which latter party was grow- 
 ing stronger every day. Its platform of principles was 
 antagonistic to the Democratic party and to the Southern 
 States on the slavery question. In November, 1859, old 
 John Brown, who had figured conspicuously in the fights, 
 organized a hostile gang of Abolitionists and came down 
 to Virginia, presumably to incite the negroes against their 
 masters and urge them to insurrection. Their field of 
 operation was in the county of Jefferson and adjoining 
 one. The government of the United States dispatched 
 
44 
 Colonel Robert E. Lee, in command of a small body of 
 marines, to capture Brown and his party and to defeat 
 his diabolical scheme. The fanatical wretches took refuge 
 in the engine house at Harper's Ferry. They were then 
 taken to Charlestown and placed in the jail, being turned 
 over to the State authorities by Colonel Lee. Governor 
 Henry A. Wise at that period of time was filling the 
 gubernatorial chair, and he immediately dispatched the 
 military companies of Richmond to the scene of action, 
 in order to protect the citizens in this critical emergency. 
 Indeed it was the real beginning of the great war. 
 
 Old John Brown, the leader and arch-conspirator against 
 the peace and dignity of Virginia, was duly tried and 
 summarily executed. Next, one Cook was tried, who was 
 a very young man and nephew of the Governor of In- 
 diana, who employed Senator Daniel Voorhies to defend 
 him. The case was pathetic in the extreme ; many persons 
 in court were moved to tears, but the law was inexorable 
 and he was judged guilty and shared the fate of his leader. 
 After the executions the military returned home. The 
 1st Company of Howitzers had just been formed and or- 
 ganized, and on this occasion acted as infantrymen. The 
 whole country was then in a great state of excitement 
 and unrest. In a short time the nominations for the Presi- 
 dency would be made. James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, 
 was the President then, and the feeling between the North 
 and the South was becoming more and more intense, and 
 what would be the outcome few could predict. A political 
 storm they all feared was to culminate in a dreadful, cruel 
 war between the States. 
 
 In the year 1860 the Democratic party held its conven- 
 tion in the city of Charleston, S. C. It divided into two 
 section, one wing nominated John C. Breckinridge, of 
 
45 
 Kentucky, as their standard bearer, and the other put 
 forward as their nominee Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois. 
 The Whig party chose John Bell, of Tennessee, to lead 
 it. The newly formed Republican party had nominated 
 Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois. 
 
 The canvass was conducted with force and vigor. The 
 Republicans had grown in numbers and strength and 
 presented a formidable menace to the South. The most 
 strenuous efforts were made by each section to elect its 
 candidate ; the issue was great and clearly defined. In 
 the South the ablest speakers were brought out to present 
 the danger which threatened the institution of slavery 
 in the success of the Lincoln party ; yet it seemed a forlorn 
 hope to expect to elect Southern Democrats like Breckin- 
 ridge and Lane, as there were two other Democratic tickets 
 in the field, which, of course, split the conservative or 
 Southern vote, while the North or Abolition party had 
 only one ticket in the field. 
 
 The Wigs of Richmond had built, on Fourteenth and 
 Franklin Streets, a large wooden structure capable of 
 seating a crowd — that party had a large majority in the 
 city — and held frequent meetings therein. It was called 
 the "Wigwam." I well remember that the night before 
 the election Mr. William L. Yancy spoke in advocacy of 
 Breckinridge at the Metropolitan Hall, on Franklin Street 
 near the Exchange Hotel. Others spoke at the "Wig- 
 wam" for the Douglass ticket. The last speaker there 
 was A. Judson Crane. The evening was advancing and 
 the audience had been listening for hours to burning words 
 from the lips of gifted orators, and well do I recall his 
 closing remark, to-wit: "It makes no difference for 
 whom you vote, as before the sun of tomorrow goes down 
 Abraham Lincoln will have been elected the President 
 
46 
 of these United States." This prediction proved only too 
 true, since on the following fourth day of March he was 
 inaugurated, and in his address said that he would use 
 all the men at his command to bring back into the Union, 
 by force of arms if necessary, the seceding Southern 
 States. This was truly cold comfort for the Southern 
 people. John Letcher was the Governor of Virginia, and 
 the General Assembly was in session, which drew up and 
 passed a bill for the calling of a State convention that 
 the people indorsed by a large majority. Then came the 
 most important part, the election of delegates to it. 
 As a matter of fact the State was largely Democratic, 
 and in an ordinary election for State offices a Whig stood 
 no chance of election, but such was not the case in this 
 one, for no party lines were brought into play and there- 
 fore the ablest and most intellectual men were selected, 
 irrespective of party affiliations. This important meet- 
 ing of Virginians, called the "Secession Convention," as- 
 sembled in Richmond — the building used for its sessions 
 was the Mechanic's Institute, located on Ninth Street 
 between Main and Franklin Streets and then occupied 
 the present site of the building of Ebel and Sons, merchant 
 tailors. It organized, by election, Mr. Janney, of Loudon 
 county, as president, an old line Whig, and was opposed 
 to secession at the very start. Mr. Eubank was made 
 clerk. 
 
 I doubt if an abler, more intellectual and patriotic set 
 of men were ever before gathered together in this State 
 for the discussion of a subject so delicate and so porten- 
 tous. They soemed to fully realize the gravity of the situa- 
 tion that confronted the old Commonwealth. The con- 
 vention was divided into two parts; the one the original 
 secessionists, who were in favor of going out of the Union 
 
47 
 at once, as many of the other States had already done, 
 the other was mainly composed of old line Whigs, who 
 were in favor of preserving the Union as long as a chance 
 remained. The debates in the convention were of the 
 most absorbing interest to the whole population, and even 
 the heads of the commercial houses would lea\ r e them in 
 charge of clerks. The female heads of families, just as 
 soon as their morning duties were arranged, would repair 
 to the Mechanic's Institute to listen to the speeches, so 
 supreme was the general interest taken in the outcome of 
 it. And it was not at all surprising that such was the 
 case, for it was a most momentous era in our history. 
 Nobody could foretell the future at that early day. The 
 members did all they could to avert civil war. Several 
 delegates were sent to the seat of government at Wash- 
 ington to endeavor to secure a peaceable solution of the 
 vexed questions. It was a time of suspense and almost 
 anguish; the Union hung as by a thread as it were, and 
 then at this critical juncture the President, Abraham Lin- 
 coln, issued his celebrated proclamation, calling upon Vir- 
 ginia, the "Mother of States, and "of the Union," for 
 seventy-five thousand men as her quota with which to 
 assist him in coercing, by military force of arms, her 
 sister States. The convention did not hesitate an instant, 
 it promptly passed the Ordinance of Secession almost 
 unanimously, there being but one dissenting voice. With 
 the secession of this State the last gleam of hope for peace 
 vanished as the snow flakes before the rays of the sun. 
 The Federal government had sent reinforcements and 
 provisions for a siege to Fort Sumter, which was then 
 commanded by Major Anderson. The people of South 
 Carolina considered this a declaration of war, and at once, 
 under the direction of General Beauregard, attacked the 
 
48 
 fort and caused its surrender. This was the beginning 
 of the great war between the States of the Union, which 
 was to call to the front every true Southerner to do or 
 die for the South land ; it was the first clash of arms in 
 that bloody drama which was to last for four long years 
 of terror to the people of Virginia, and the sacrifice of the 
 life's blood of thousands of her noblest and most gallant 
 sons. Richmond, with her open gates of welcome to 
 the splendid troops from the South and Southwest, was 
 the rendezvous of all the soldiers to be organized hurry- 
 ing to the front. Everything then seemed bright and all 
 believed the war would soon be over. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 The Southern ports were soon blockaded by the Federal 
 vessels of war and the South then had to rely entirely 
 upon her own resources. Excepting a few articles, such 
 as coffee and tea, brought in through the blockade, sub- 
 stitutes were found for each of these articles. 
 
 During the first year the currency of the Confederacy 
 depreciated but little, but in the second year it began to 
 go down in value, until it became before the end almost 
 worthless. Richmond, in spite of the privations of the 
 people, was gayer and more brilliant socially than it ever 
 was since or before. There were in the city a great many 
 refugees from all parts of the South, which formed a 
 social element that made a delightful society. There were 
 dances and theater parties held frequently ; many clerks, 
 male and female, employed in the government depart- 
 ments; soldiers on furlough from the army, all combined 
 to form a gay company of ladies and gentlemen. 
 
 General Beauregard was in command of the Army of 
 the Potomac, as General Joseph E. Johnston was in the 
 
49 
 Valley of Virginia opposing General Patterson of the Fed- 
 eral forces. The first battle of Manassas was fought on 
 the 21st day of July, 1861, this being the first big fight 
 of the war, and in this the Southern troops were com- 
 pletely victorious, driving back to Washington the North- 
 ern army in a regular panicstricken mob. This victory 
 buoyed up the spirits of our people in the city and they 
 did not fully realize the gravity of the war until it had 
 been waged sometime. The social life in the city became 
 more pleasant as time passed, and large entertainments 
 were given almost every night. Mrs. Randolph, the wife 
 of the Secretary of "War, who was one of the leaders in 
 society at this period, lived on East Franklin Street, two 
 doors from the residence of General Lee's family. Her 
 house was the centre of social attraction. She gave theat- 
 rical rehearsals and readings, which were attended by the 
 soldiers who were in the city en route to and from the 
 front and while on furlough. 
 
 There was a prominent feature of nearly every family 
 then, which was the open house for the entertainment of the 
 soldiers, sick or well, all of whom received the heartiest 
 welcome and the kindest treatment. I recall Mr. James 
 Gardner, of the firm of Gardner, Carlton & Co., whose 
 house was headquarters for the distinguished artillery 
 company from the city of New Orleans, the Washington 
 Artillery, as well, also, for other Southern soldiers. Mr. 
 Peyton Johnston, of the firm of P. Johnston and Brother, 
 kept open house to all worthy Confederates. I well re- 
 member meeting there a unique character, a Major Atkins, 
 of the cavalry corps, who was an Irishman, and enjoyed 
 the soubriquet of "Charles O'Malley. " He was one of 
 the finest specimens of manhood that I ever beheld; he 
 was about six feet two inches in height and well pro- 
 
50 
 portioned. He was of course in the service of the Con- 
 federacy, but was unfortunately called to his home in 
 Ireland before the close of the war. He sent his young 
 brother to take his place in the Confederate ranks, joining 
 Mosby's men, but was killed shortly after joining. 
 
 Of the newspapers of Richmond, both before and dur- 
 ing the war, there was the Equirer, first owned and edited 
 by Colonel Thomas Ritchie and afterwards by William P. 
 Ritchie. Among the editors were Roger A. Pryor and 
 0. Jennings Wise. This sheet before the war was the 
 leading Democratic organ. And then came the Richmond 
 Whig, edited by Mr. Robert Ridgway, which was the 
 organ of the old line Whigs of Virginia; and then the 
 Dispatch, owned by Mr. Cowardin and edited by Messrs. 
 Baldwin and Pleasants. Next I mention that caustic sheet 
 the Examiner, owned and edited by John M. Daniel, who 
 was one of the most sarcastic writers of his time, whose 
 criticisms of public men and of the Confederate govern- 
 ment were biting and severe. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The "Alexandria Sentinel" was removed to Richmond 
 at the beginning of the war. Of course, when hostilities 
 began all the old party lines in politics were obliterated. 
 They were only to be found and known as the Southern 
 or Secession party or States Rights men. The armies of 
 the Confederacy were achieving success in nearly every 
 encounter, while the North was making tremendous efforts 
 to fill up the depleted ranks by enlarging the drafts. The 
 South meanwhile was also putting forward all her limited 
 resources to counteract that of the North, and yet the 
 Southern cause was being worn out day by day by the 
 
51 
 forces of attrition. Her ports being closed by the block- 
 ade, she was becoming exhausted by slow degrees being 
 decimated by disease and lack of proper nourishment, as 
 well as by the bullets of the enemy. So when the strong 
 attack by Grant was made on the lines around Petersburg, 
 the thin grey line gave way, was forced back by over- 
 whelmning numbers and began its final retreat to the 
 fatal field of Appomattox, where General Lee sadly signed 
 articles of peace and surrender of the remnant of the 
 gallant old Army of Northern Virginia. 
 
 The Southern people had fought and suffered for four 
 long, dreary years for what they believed was right, and 
 there was no unprejudiced commentator of the Constitu- 
 tion who did not give the South the right to secede from 
 the sisterhood of States when her rights by the spirit as 
 well as the letter of that instrument had been withheld 
 and denied her. 
 
 Now that the surrender had taken place a new era 
 confronted the people. I returned from the field of sur- 
 render and stopped at Maynard's farm, where the 
 11 Soldiers' Home" now is. I gave my parole as a private 
 in the 1st Company of Richmond Howitzers. After reach- 
 ing home I walked down Main Street, and could hardly 
 recognize my surroundings. The great conflagration 
 which ensued at the evacuation, had left a mass of debrio 
 impossible to imagine or describe by an old resident of 
 the city. The South was now a conquered country, though 
 never recognized as a government de Jure, nor de facto 
 by the Federals, and according to the theory advanced 
 and upheld all through the conflict by them, we should 
 have at once enjoyed all the rights which belonged to 
 the seceded States before a separation occurred. But such 
 was never the case, as a system of legislation was begun 
 
52 
 that was a blot upon the civilization of the nineteenth 
 century. I allude to the reconstruction era in Virginia, 
 which period has been depicted by several writers. As 
 the ashes from old Virginia arose Phoenix like from humil- 
 iation and re-established her State government, thereby 
 enabling her to get rid of the barnacles which had nearly 
 sapped her political life and she struggled on through 
 many trials and hindrances until at last each year brought 
 new evidences of substantial success and prosperity. New 
 conditions now confronted this community, as before the 
 war the State had borrowed large amounts of money to 
 aid her infant enterprizes and improvements, which by 
 lapse of time had accumulated in interest unpaid a con- 
 siderable amount. Then there sprung up the Readjuster 
 party, and its opponent, the "Debt-paying'' or McCullough 
 party. The former maintained that as the State has 
 emerged from the conflict of arms financially ruined and 
 it could not be expected to pay in full the original debt, 
 but should be allowed to scale it so as to enable the State 
 to meet her obligations. The Funders or Debt-paying 
 party claimed that a just debt should be paid dollar for 
 dollar. The two parties went before the people, and Gov- 
 ernor Cameron was the nominee of the Readjusters and 
 John Warwick Daniel was the Funder candidate for the 
 office of Governor, and the Readjusters won and Cam- 
 eron was elected Governor with the whole legislature 
 Readjusters. With the election of a Readjuster State 
 government there was a complete change in the whole ad- 
 ministration at Richmond. Not a single "Funder" or Debt- 
 payer was left in office ; there took place a regular clearance 
 of the Augean stables. There never was a more prosprictive 
 party formed. General Mahone exercised supreme con- 
 trol. He had some very able lieutenants who aided him 
 
53 
 in carrying out his drastic policy. The British bondhold- 
 ers employed Mr. William L. Royall, a distinguished law- 
 yer of this city, paying him a large salary to look after 
 their interests. He kept the State on a gridiron by at- 
 tempting to force a reception of coupons cut from the 
 bonds as payment of State taxes. These coupons were of 
 no value as a circulating medium, and consequently 
 would deprive the State of all means of carrying on the 
 government if they were successful. The Funding party, 
 realizing that they had made a mistake in their way of 
 settling the debt, changed front and adopted the Re- 
 adjuster theory or plan of scaling down. They appointed 
 a committee of the best men in the country, with ex-Presi- 
 dent Grover Cleveland as one, to formulate a settlment 
 on the basis of the Riddlebarger bill. The creditors ac- 
 cepted the terms and the vexed question was thus for- 
 ever settled, at least so far as Virginia was liable. Mr. 
 Royal of course lost thereby his lucrative job. The Cen- 
 tury bonds were issued and a sinking fund set aside for 
 the payment of interest. This settlement killed the Re- 
 adjuster party and the offices of the State were restored 
 to the Conservative party. General Mahone and his lieu- 
 tenants flopped over to the Republican party. Virginia 
 has been steadily prosperious ever since then. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Virginia, after the permanent settlement of the "debt 
 question" and the subject was finally eliminated from 
 the State politics, sprang forward upon an era of great 
 prosperity and advancement, which continued without in- 
 terruption until the "Free Silver" and "16 to 1" craze 
 set in politics, and the false idea that sixteen ounces of 
 
54 
 silver was always equal in value to one ounce of gold took 
 complete possesion of the field throughout the State. This 
 was one of the delusions championed by Mr. William Jen- 
 nings Bryan, one of the most plausible and eloquent 
 stump speakers in the country. He threw all of his most 
 forcible energy and talent into the attempt to convince 
 the people that it was the panacea for all the ills of 
 humanity — it was his idea that a purely economic issue 
 would be a cure-all for all the woes of the flesh. 
 
 In 1894 William Jennings Bryan was nominated by 
 the Chicago Convention upon the "Free Silver" platform. 
 General Simon Bolivar Buckner, of Kentucky, with Pal- 
 mer, of Illinois, were chosen by the gold standard wing 
 of the Democratic party as the standard bearers of the 
 Democracy. William S. McKinley, then Governor of Ohio, 
 was the nominee of the Republicans, also on a gold stand- 
 ard platform and high protective tariff. When the elec- 
 tion was held that fall, the "Free Silver" motion was 
 overwhelmingly defeated and killed. In the campaign 
 Virginia voted largely for the Bryan ideas. So completely 
 had his influence infatuated many sober-minded, good 
 Democrats that they considered it almost treason to the 
 party in one who did become misled by this delusion. 
 When Lamb was nominated for Congress in the Third 
 District of Virginia he was an advocate for Free Silver. 
 A few nights before the nominating convention came off, 
 I met Captain George D. Wise and asked him how he 
 stood on the question, and he answered, "I am a Gold 
 Standard Democrat." For this frank avowal I have 
 always admired him. It was a decisive and unequivocal 
 stand on the issue which was then at its height, and it 
 cost him his seat in Congress, for Captain John Lamb, the 
 opponent, was selected and afterwards seated as the mem- 
 
55 
 ber from the Third District of Virginia — the Richmond 
 district. 
 
 The Honorable Charles T. O'Ferral, the member from 
 the Seventh District of Virginia, and who, with the aid 
 of Mr. Randall, of Pennsylvania, the former Speaker of 
 the House of Representatives, by their skill defeated the 
 infamous Force Bill offered by Senator Lodge, of Mas- 
 sachusetts, which was antagonized by the whole South 
 as sectional and unjust to it. Governor O'Ferral was 
 almost ostracised by his party — that is, by the ring — be- 
 cause he would not subscribe to the "Free Silver, 16 to 1 
 craze." The old State finally emerged from this veritable 
 "Slough of Despond," and its motto seems to be "Ex- 
 celsior" and progress. The former political issue of gold 
 or silver seems to be side-tracked and does not appear in 
 the platforms of any party, but is relegated to oblivion 
 as a subject of politics, and it is to be devoutly hoped that 
 it will remain there for all time and never again cause so 
 much unnecessary bitterness and division in the old party. 
 
 The State being relieved to a great extent from the 
 handicap resulting through the late canvass and excite- 
 ment ; though her Congressmen and the State officers were 
 elected on the Free Silver platform, yet it ceased to play 
 a part in the policy of the State or the country at large. 
 
 The commercial and economic status of the old Com- 
 monwealth improved every day. The General Assembly 
 drew up a bill calling upon the suffragans of Virginia 
 to decide whether a convention should be called or not. 
 They, the voters, decided that one should be called, where- 
 upon the Legislature so enacted, and the election was 
 held. In the year 1903 the convention to frame a new 
 Constitution assembled in the hall of the House of Dele- 
 gates in the old Capitol in the city of Richmond. They 
 
56 
 were confronted with a great many intricate and difficult 
 problems. First and foremost was the question as to the 
 best manner to deal with the negro vote. Next in im- 
 portance was the creation of the State Corporation Com- 
 mission, or Railroad Supervision Act. Probably no mem- 
 ber of that body deserves more credit for the establish- 
 ment of this important branch of Virginia's judiciary 
 system than Allen Caperton Braxton. By his logical 
 reasoning and indefatigable energy was largely instru- 
 mental in having that great measure passed. There were 
 many other salutary laws framed and incorporated in the 
 fundamental body of the State ; which has put the conven- 
 tion on record as having been one of the very best bodies 
 of men ever assembled in Virginia for the important duty 
 of forming the organic law of this old Commonwealth. 
 The grand work accomplished by them will ever be duly 
 appreciated until time shall be no more and forever ceases. 
 A question of absorbing interest to all the people is 
 the temperance issue. A large and influential portion of 
 citizens advocate a State-wide or general prohibition law. 
 The other portion oppose it strenuously. In the Assembly, 
 or Legislature, an act called an Enabling Statute was in- 
 troduced, which proposed to put before the voters the 
 question whether they should choose for State-wide pro- 
 hibition or not, and upon the verdict thus rendered it was 
 to be returned to the Legislature at its next session for 
 its final action, on the principle of the Initial and 
 Referendum. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 The American people are upon the eve of a Presidential 
 canvass and election. The issues are vital and most im- 
 portant and are clearly defined. 
 
57 
 
 Governor of New Jersey, the Honorable Woodrow Wil- 
 son, is at this writing — August, 1912 — the chosen standard 
 bearer of the Democracy, whose platform of nation-wide 
 issues contain the soundest principles of a true Republi- 
 can form of government ever devised by mankind. The 
 cardinal or main feature of it is the revision of the present 
 tariff downward ; in other words a reduction of the same 
 down to a revenue basis. 
 
 The present President, Honorable William H. Taft, is 
 the nominee of the regular Republican party, which party 
 platform advocates a high protective tariff, which has 
 resulted in building up trusts in nearly everything and 
 advancing greatly the costs of living. 
 
 On the 5th day of November, 1912, the election will take 
 place, when the people of the United States of North 
 America will decide whether the theories of the Democ- 
 racy or those of the Republican party shall be the best 
 for their interests and national welfare. The lines are 
 now clearly drawn and all good Virginians are deeply 
 interested in the result of the great battle of ballots. 
 
 To return in retrospect and compare the present with 
 the past, the individual then sees the changes made by 
 the passage of time. I well remember when Mr. Cyrus W. 
 Field, the promoter of the Atlantic Cable, was considered 
 a regular crank, or semi-lunatic, for such unpractical ideas 
 as he advanced. Now nearly every part of the globe is 
 connected by submarine cables. Take up the numerous 
 inventions and discoveries of "Edison, the great wizard 
 of electricity," and regard the chaining of lightning by 
 man, making it a motive power, and an illuminator for 
 dispelling the darkness of the past, as to its many uses 
 for mankind. Take the railroad engines, which were a 
 few years since small affairs, and the small and light 
 
58 
 wooden cars hauled by them, and contrast them with the 
 palatial trains built of steel and the mammoth locomotives 
 that now draw them ov, the heavy 100-pound rails at the 
 rate of sixty miles per hour. Note the buildings in the 
 great cities called "skyscrapers," which rise almost to 
 the clouds, and the many other improvements in archi- 
 tectural steel structures, as the splendid bridges of that 
 material that span large streams and bridge at dizzy 
 heights ravines and mountain gorges. Fifty years ago 
 the total population of Richmond was only about forty 
 thousand souls, while today — 1912 — it is nearly one hun- 
 dred and eighty thousand all told. 
 
 Thus we see what tremendous changes are produced 
 by the passage of "resistless time," which even the most 
 far-sighted human being could hardly imagine or predict. 
 Now who can safely foretell what may happen within 
 the next half century? Nearly every day science is bring- 
 ing to light marvelous inventions in the industrial world, 
 and the swift strides in everything pertaining to the every- 
 day life of the human family is most remarkable. Fearful 
 accidents and awful calamities, destructive of life and 
 property, follow each other almost equal to views of the 
 kaleidoscope in suddenness and variety. Truly is this a 
 wonderful period of the world's existence. 
 
 A striking feature of the great commercial advance of 
 the United States is its vast increase in the railroad con- 
 nections, which now penetrate the remotest sections, 
 bringing them into touch with all the large centres of 
 trade and commerce. That great artery of business, the 
 Union Pacific Railroad stretches from the Atlantic Ocean 
 to the great ocean on the west coast, the Pacific. And 
 now, as I write, in but a short time hence the famous 
 canal, the Panama, which will draw in the tides of the 
 
59 
 Atlantic and discharge them into the Pacific, for the first 
 time in history, will be in operation, owing to the indom- 
 itable energy and skill of Americans. And also regard 
 the wonderful achievements in the aerial world, the art 
 of flying by men.. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 The individual views with wonder and almost awe the 
 great events which the evolution of time has produced. 
 If things are such in this, the twentieth century of the 
 Christian era, what may the next one show forth to the 
 eyes and imaginations of mortals? Can any person now 
 living even speculate ? There are a few who predict reve- 
 lations in the invisible world, or the spiritual life, and 
 who can say nay to it, in the light of discoveries and 
 development of the present age ? Time only can tell what 
 the veil of the future now hides from human view. 
 
 A prominent element of Richmond's professional status 
 was its legal bar, as its lawyers comprised many of the 
 ablest attorneys in the State. Among the most prominent 
 ones of the ante-bellum period were Mr. James Lyons, Sr., 
 Jno. M. Gregory, Raleigh T. Daniel, John Howard, Alex- 
 ander H. Sands, Edward and Henry Cannon, Messrs. John- 
 son, Griswold, Claiborne, Howison, August, Randolph, 
 Littleton, Tazewell, Marmaduke, Johnson and many 
 others, who shed a lustre upon their distinguished pro- 
 fession of the law. The bar of Virginia has always ranked 
 as the highest in the land, and not even excelled in ability 
 by that of the old Mother Country, England. There were 
 two lawyers who were conspicuous men for their home- 
 liness. One was Mr. Joseph Carrington, of Richmond, the 
 other was William Wallace Day, of Manchester, Va. A 
 
60 
 dispute having arisen as to which was the uglier of the 
 two, and as it was very difficult to say which was, so the 
 friends of each agreed to appoint a committee to decide 
 the matter, and the one who was adjudged to be the 
 uglier by it was to receive a prize of a fine penknife. The 
 prize knife fell to the lot of Mr. Day as the successful con- 
 testant, and accordingly it was handed him as the award 
 of not beauty, but of plain features at least, if not down- 
 right ugliness. Both of these worthy gentlemen were 
 prominent and successful lawyers of the Kichmond bar. 
 
 The annexation to Richmond of the several adjacent 
 towns has added greatly to the population and proved a 
 decided benefit to each. The former city of Manchester, 
 which was for a long time an independent corporation 
 (even said to be older than Richmond as a town), was 
 lately joined to its sister city over the James River and 
 is now called "Washington ward, or more properly speak- 
 ing, "South Richmond." It is now rapidly advancing in 
 prosperity and is also improving in appearance in streets 
 and parks. Consolidation or merger of interests and co- 
 operation seems to be the spirit of modern times and of 
 the age of commerce and money-making. 
 
 Before the war Richmond banks formed a very import- 
 ant element of its business equipment. The old Exchange 
 Bank occupied the building at present the home of the 
 First National, between Eleventh and Twelfth Streets on 
 Main, but which last named one will soon be removed to 
 its new home, southwest corner Main and Ninth Streets — 
 nineteen stories high. Then comes next in rank the 
 Farmers Bank, and then the Bank of Virginia, and the 
 Bank of the Commonwealth. A good deal of banking was 
 transacted by private bankers, such as C. W. Purcell & Co., 
 Sutton, Enders & Co., Goddin, Harrison & Co. These were 
 
61 
 all first-class and model institutions in their line, and oc- 
 cupied a high place in the business world of the city. 
 
 One of the unique characters in the State was the cele- 
 brated Parson Massie, as he was always called, though 
 he was a full-fledged politician of the Readjuster period 
 and was an efficient aid to General William Mahone. When 
 the debt settlement was made, he returned to the Old 
 Democratic fold. The "Parson" was truly one of the most 
 plausible and eloquent speakers on the Hustings. No 
 man in Virginia was more perfectly conversant with all 
 the issues of the day, and there lived none who could 
 "rattle" or disconcert him, for his extraordinary coolness 
 and his undoubted courage always discomforted his op- 
 posers. He was elected and became the head of the whole 
 school system of Virginia for many years. 
 
 Among the military companies of the city was the old 
 Richmond Light Infantry Blues, the organization of which 
 dates back almost to Colonial times, and whose military 
 record is as bright and efficient as a Damascus blade. It 
 was commanded by officers whose memory will be revered 
 and honored as long as time lasts. I can recall the names 
 of some as Captains Bigger, Patton, 'Jennings, Wise, and 
 its war captain, Levy. Since the War between the States, 
 it has been reorganized and formed into a battalion of 
 three companies. It still retains its former and ancient 
 prestige gained in the past, and is justly regarded as one 
 of the best military commands to be found anywhere. The 
 personel of this old crack corps is A No. 1. No higher 
 class young men are enrolled in any companies. Next 
 comes the old Richmond Grays, one of the best-drilled 
 companies in the State. The material of which this was 
 composed was unsurpassed in Richmond and its appear- 
 
62 
 ance on the streets always elicited special notice and 
 praise. 
 
 Then came the Young Guard of the Commonwealth, 
 commanded by Captain John Richardson. This company 
 always received praise for its soldierly bearing, for to 
 see this body of young men marching in open order down 
 Main Street was a sight well worth seeing. 
 
 Then I mention Company F, which was commanded by 
 Captain R. Milton Carey, which was another of Rich- 
 mond's crack companies, being composed of the very elite 
 of the city, and always reflected great credit on its native 
 city. Then next I recall the Richmond Fa}^ette Artillery, 
 Captain Clopton, which was the only company of artillery 
 in the city. 
 
 Another prominent infantry company was the "Walker 
 Light Guards. This was organized by Captain Walker, 
 but a short time before the war and it made a fine record 
 during the war between the States, being considered one 
 of the very best commands in the Fifteenth Virginia Regi- 
 ment. A large and fine cavalry company called the Rich- 
 mond Troop added much to the city's reputation for its 
 military organization, as it was drilled and commanded 
 by an ex-West Point graduate, Captain C. Q. Tompkins, 
 who was a splendid officer and made his troop a model 
 cavalry company. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 A striking evidence of the progress in Virginia of its 
 agricultural progress is the extensive plant of the Virginia- 
 Carolina Chemical Works. The main offices are in Rich- 
 mond and the works are located near the city. The 
 different fertilizers, which are varied and adapted to all 
 important crops in the South, are distributed all over the 
 
63 
 country through its many agencies in all the largest cities. 
 It is said that by the application of these to the soil, that 
 two blades of grass will spring up where but one grew 
 before. Thus causing almost worn out fields to put on 
 a grass sward and then heavy crops of tobacco and other 
 products. This beneficial aid to nature appeals to the 
 farmers and encourages them to never despair, but to 
 always resort to the excellent fertilizers which are made 
 and adapted to each crop by the reliable Virginia-Carolina 
 Chemical Company, and then his plantation will always 
 yield a large and remunerative increase over its former 
 productions. 
 
 Among the pleasant and interesting customs of the past, 
 was the regular habit of Virginians to gather together 
 just before important elections and hold barbecues, which 
 were always well-gotten up and carried out by a commit- 
 tee appointed for the purpose, who attended to the cook- 
 ing; there was always a quarter of fat beef, and a whole 
 mutton barbecued to a turn, and when dinner was an- 
 nounced the political speakers adjourned the meeting un- 
 til the crowd had partaken generously of the meats and 
 also of the good toddies furnished freely to the voters as- 
 sembled on the festive occasion. 
 
 And when dinner was all over, the orators would re- 
 sume their pleas for votes. The last barbecue of this ex- 
 tensive sort that I remember attending was at the Drewry 
 Mansion, near Manchester. It was a very delightful place 
 for such a meeting of suffragans; it being a handsome 
 dwelling in a beautiful grove of stately old oak trees, 
 commanding from an eminence a magnificent view of the 
 plantation and the winding James River below. Among 
 the speakers on the occasion were George D. Wise and 
 
64 
 Richard Beirne, who pleased every man present and all 
 returned home well satisfied with the whole outing. 
 
 Among the well-known, characters of Richmond was 
 one George Dabney Wootton, who came here before the 
 war and was employed by the South, a newspaper pub- 
 lished by Mr. Roger A. Pryor, and when the paper was 
 discontinued he scraped together a smattering of what he 
 thought was law, and hung out his shingle at the police 
 court. Many people credited him with having "rats" in 
 his head. One thing is certain, the man possessed inordi- 
 nate self-reliance, or "brass," as it is called. He adver- 
 tised a good deal in the newspapers and a certain "Western 
 man, who read his "ads," came on to the city with a good 
 fat case of law, involving a large amount of money, which 
 he placed in Wooten's hands, but subsequently finding that 
 it would not be safe under Dabney 's skill, in other words 
 he was not qualified to manage so large a case, he sent 
 and offered him a nice sum of money if he would give up 
 the matter, but the learned attorney declined to withdraw 
 from the case, and said that he proposed to go through 
 with it. His client then had to employ assistant counsel, 
 and obtained the legal service of Col. James Lyons, one of 
 the most eminent lawyers of the bar of Virginia, Of course 
 that settled it so far as Mr. Wootten was concerned. 
 
 I remember several years ago, when Mr. Isador Rayner, 
 the United States Senator from Maryland, spoke at the 
 Academy of Music, upon the subject of the tariff. Now, 
 as a matter of fact, this is a generally dull subject, con- 
 sisting of so much detail, and so many statistics and fig- 
 ures. But on this occasion it was quite the reverse of dull, 
 for he discussed this intricate question in such an interest- 
 ing manner that our attention was rivetted throughout the 
 address, and every listener was charmed from the begin- 
 
65 
 ning to the finish. It was indeed one of the very finest 
 speeches that I ever heard. 
 
 A prominent and remarkable man was in his day, Mr. Jo- 
 seph Mayo, who succeeded Mr. Lambert as the chief magis- 
 trate or mayor of Richmond ; he was a good lawyer, indeed 
 one of renown, and the author of the celebrated work called 
 "Mayo's Guide," a book of high standing, and an author- 
 ity at the bar for all legal forms used in the Richmond 
 courts. At that time the Mayor performed the office of 
 police judge, and well I do recall seeing him seated in his 
 big chair with all the high dignity of a Roman senator; 
 he was always dressed in a blue dress coat with brass but- 
 tons and ruffled shirtbosom. He dispensed even handed 
 justice, and was a highly esteemed citizen of Richmond. 
 
 When the army of Northern Virginia, under General 
 Robert E. Lee, was fighting at Spotsylvania Courthouse; 
 occurred the battle at New Market, between the Confed- 
 erate forces under General Jno. C. Breckenridge, and those 
 under the Northern General Siegel. When Grant with- 
 drew his lines of battle General Lee marched on parallel 
 lines to Grant's. We stopped at Hanover Junction and 
 there sharp skirmishing took place. The railroad train 
 conveying the cadets of the Virginia Military Institute 
 stopped a short time, and T went on board and inquired 
 if Cadet George Kennon Macon, my brother, was aboard 
 the train, and the answer was, to my distress, that he was 
 not, as he had been wounded in that celebrated charge of 
 the cadets at New Market, in the Valley of Virginia, by 
 a canister shot passing through his arm, and he had to be 
 left behind under the care of those kind and skillful sur- 
 geons of the corps— Doctors George Ross, and Marshall. 
 Caotain Miles C. Macon, of the Fayette Artillery, my 
 brother, also, was then just recovering from a spell of 
 
66 
 typhoid fever, which had prevented his being in the en- 
 gagement at the front, went up to the valley and brought 
 our wounded brother down to our mother's home in Rich- 
 mond, and it is needless to say that everything that love 
 and sympathy could suggest or inspire was employed to 
 relieve his pain and hasten his recovery. He was the idol 
 of the family, and his wound was attended to by that most 
 skillful surgeon Doctor Petticolas. It was an ugly wound 
 and he suffered from it to the day of his death. 
 
 The brilliant charge of those young boys — cadets — at 
 the severe fight of New Market, forms one of the bright- 
 est pages of military glory, and in all history there has 
 never been its equal. Their steady, stoical bravery at the 
 crisis of the battle, under circumstances and surroundings 
 that staggered the old veterans. As these gallant youths 
 moved across the field in the face of a withering fire of 
 artillery concentrated on them, they were literally mowed 
 down, but their ranks were filled up as cooly as if they 
 were on parade, and they never faltered in their charge 
 until they had captured the guns before them. This was, 
 as often written, one of, if not the most striking achieve- 
 ments, of the great war between the States. Many have 
 blamed the commandant of the institute, General Smith, 
 for allowing the boys to be carried to the front, though 
 he had no option in the matter ; it was a case of emergency ; 
 of salvation to the army, and indeed of safety to the in- 
 stitute, and accordingly General Breckenridge called forth 
 the corps, and they were eager for the fray, and proved 
 their mettle. 
 
 A gleaning of significance was : A certain lady was the 
 fortunate possessor of two sons whose ages were respec- 
 tively twelve and fourteen years; these boys were once 
 invited to a juvenile party, their mother having provided 
 
67 
 them new roundabouts with plain brass buttons and trous- 
 ers to match with well starched collars, their faces having 
 been, of course, washed clean, and the chaps were well 
 dressed and smart looking. Before parting with them, 
 when they were leaving home for the entertainment, their 
 mother, after carefully inspecting them, said, now boys 
 you are both big fools, and now don't you open your 
 mouths while at this party. The host of the entertainment 
 came to them and complimented their behaviour and ap- 
 pearance, and inquired about their mother. The boys 
 looked directly at one another, but remained as dumb as 
 oysters in the shells. Their hostess fared no better, and 
 received no satisfaction when she kindly inquired of them 
 about their parent. As she left the boys she remarked, 
 well those are certainly the greatest dunces that I have 
 ever seen. They overheard her remark, and one of them 
 said to the other brother, they have found us out. Let us 
 go home. Those very boys afterwards developed into in 
 telligent men. It was truly wrong in their parent to thus 
 discourage her boys on their first start into society; she 
 should have taken an optimistic view of the matter, as the 
 final result proved, as they both grew up to be well in- 
 formed members of society. 
 
 A characteristic feature of the period of the time in 
 which I am engaged writing, is the friendly relations now 
 existing between the sections of the country; the North 
 and the South. Nearly half a century has elapsed since 
 the surrender at Appomattox. All the acrimony engen- 
 dered by the late strifie, has ceased. The bone of conten- 
 tion, the "Slavery Question," which once divided the 
 States, no longer exists, and now we see the Southern girl 
 marrying the Northern beau, and the Northern knight 
 wooes and weds the Southern heroine, and thus results 
 a commingling of blood and interests. 
 
68 
 
 During the winter just preceding the great war between 
 the States, a Miss Duryea, the daughter of Colonel Duryea, 
 of New York, was making a visit to my brother-in-law 
 and his family, Mr. Peyton Johnston, of Richmond, they 
 being strong mutual friends. The colonel consented to her 
 visiting in Richmond, and she was a very attractive young 
 lady, and as I was at the time a young man, I was, to some 
 extent, drawn to her. I well remember that she played a 
 good game of single-hand euchre, and that we had many 
 pleasant games together. She left for the North just before 
 the beginning of the war. Her father commanded the 
 Duryea Zouaves. 
 
 A unique character of the city was one Captain John 
 Freeman, who commanded one of the passenger boats 
 between West Point, Va., and the City of Baltimore. He 
 was a great epicure, and was noted for providing the 
 best meals on his steamer of any one of the line, and pas- 
 sengers to and from Baltimore and Virginia deemed them- 
 selves fortunate when they found themselves his guests 
 for the trip on the York River and the Chesapeake Bay 
 route. The genial old sailor had, by good feeding, ac- 
 quired a fine front of genuine aldermanic proportions. A 
 certain man once approached him and remarked that he 
 could give him a receipt which, if he would follow well, 
 would reduce his stomach to its normal size within thirty 
 days. The captain listened attentively to him, and then 
 he replied, "My good friend, it has taken me about 
 thirty-five years and several thousand dollars to obtain 
 the generous front that I have, and now you come and 
 tell me how to get rid of it in thirty days or so, after all 
 my time and money has been spent in acquiring it. Now, 
 my dear sir, I must most respectfully decline to make use 
 of your receipt." 
 
&) 
 
 During the war between the States a certain quarter- 
 master with the rank of major, whose duty never took him 
 outside Richmond in extremely hot weather, when the 
 mercury in July ranged from ninety to ninety-five degrees, 
 had a negro boy whose sole employment was to fan him 
 and keep off the flies. Now, this worthy official of the 
 Army of the Confederacy always thought himself to be one 
 of the hardest worked men in the service. Peace to his 
 ashes; he has long since "passed over to the other side of 
 the river." 
 
 A time of great interest to the Virginians in the past, 
 was the exhibition of the annual State Fair, when almost 
 every farmer and family came to Richmond during the 
 month of October to attend it. They would put off until 
 then to do the shopping and trading for the fall and winter. 
 The city would then be thronged with the visitors from 
 almost everywhere. All the hotels and boarding houses 
 were then filled, and all hands bent upon seening and being 
 seen, would flock out to the Fair Grounds. At night the 
 Mechanic's Institute was open and filled with machinery 
 and mechanical products. The Fair Grounds were situat- 
 ed then at now the corner of Main and Belvidere Streets, 
 which had been used during the war as Camp Lee. It 
 is now the beautiful spot called Monroe Park. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 One of the most important insurance companies in the 
 city is the Virginia Fire and Marine. This old and strong 
 institution antedates the great war, and its officers were 
 at one time as follows: President, Mr. Thomas Alfriend; 
 secretary, W. L. Cowardin, who afterwards became the 
 president. At this writing — the year 1912 — Colonel Wil- 
 liam IT. Palmer is the president and Mr. W. H. McCarthy 
 
70 
 is the secretary. It has a corps of efficient clerks and its 
 business is vast, and constantly increasing. The prestige 
 and conservative mode of doing business of this model 
 fire company, commend it to the confidence of the insur- 
 ing public. 
 
 A unique man of Chesterfield county was a certain Mr. 
 W. B. C, who was considered the best set-back player in 
 Manchester, and could play longer on a small capital, or 
 "stake," than could be found anywhere. He took few 
 chances in "bidding," but when he offered so many points 
 for his hand, the board of players deemed it advisable to 
 let him have all the points that he claimed, as he was sure 
 in the end to score them all. He was a very genial, pleas- 
 ant companion, and he was welcomed in a game. 
 
 Many of the landmarks, in the matter of buildings, have 
 been torn down and thus removed, and in their places more 
 modern ones erected in Richmond. For instance, the old 
 Swan Tavern, which stood on Broad between Eighth and 
 Ninth Streets. In its day, before the war, it was a famous 
 hostelry. It was there that the celebrated trial of the 
 notorious Aaron Burr was held. Burr had been indicted 
 by the federal court for high treason against the United 
 States government, in attempting, by filibustering means, 
 to inaugurate a separate government in the then new 
 Southwestern States. Very able legal talent was en- 
 gaged in this case, among whom was Mr. Jno. AVickham, 
 Luther Martin and several others of national reputation. 
 Chief Justice John Marshall presided at this trial. Mr. 
 Burr was acquitted. He had been for several years an 
 important figure in American politics and history, and had 
 been a candidate for the nomination of the Federal or 
 Whig party against Mr. Thomas Jefferson, the nominee 
 of the Republican-Democratic party. In the election that 
 
71 
 fall there was a tie vote in the electorial college, and in 
 consequence the election was thrown into the House of 
 Representatives at Washington. The leader of the Fed- 
 eral party, Alexander Hamilton, gave the deciding vote 
 which elected Mr. Jefferson as the President of the United 
 States. 
 
 This embittered Mr. Burr towards Mr. Hamilton, and 
 he made a most severe personal attack upon him through 
 the newspapers. This drew from Hamilton a challenge 
 to mortal combat on the field of honor and resulted in the 
 death of the latter by the bullet of Burr's pistol. 
 
 Alexander Hamilton was considered by many as one 
 of the greatest men of his time, and was the brains and 
 leader of his party, then styled the Federal, or later the 
 Whig party. His theory of government exists to this day 
 and time. 
 
 A prominent citizen was Mr. Jesse Wherry, a man of wit 
 and humor, a good mimic and was a candidate at the time 
 for Commissioner of Revenue, to succeed Parson Burton, 
 who had died. During the canvass he attended a Meth- 
 odist religious meeting and when the preacher offered up 
 a long, earnest prayer, Wherry emphasized it by his ap- 
 proval in frequent and loud aniens. A party out of spite 
 informed the leaders of the meeting that Jesse was not 
 only not a Methodist, but not even a member of any church 
 whatever. This action came very near causing the defeat 
 of Mr. Jesse Wherry for the office, for the whole meeting 
 voted for his opponent. There once lived in Richmond a 
 man by the name of Hicks, who kept a livery stable on 
 South Tenth Street, between Main and Cary. He owned 
 a fine female pointer dog named "Sue." She had a pedi- 
 gree nearly a yard in length. The puppies he found a 
 ready sale for at a good price. One day a party ap- 
 
72 
 
 proached Hicks and said: "1 wish you would give me 
 one of her puppies." He replied: "You go to Major 
 Doswell and ask him to give you one of Sue Washington's 
 colts." "It costs the major a good deal of money to 
 produce her colts," exclaimed the party. "Don't you 
 suppose it costs me something to obtain my thoroughbred 
 puppies," was Mr. Hick's reply. 
 
 I remember well the time when the last mortal remains 
 of the great Confederate general, Stonewall Jackson, were 
 brought to Richmond for interment. The body lay in 
 state in the rotunda of the capitol and all who desired 
 could view the corpse. There lay still in death, the man 
 who.had been the right-hand and arm of General Robert E. 
 Lee, and but few, if any, who passed around his bier failed 
 to shed tears of sorrow at the great calamity which the 
 South sustained thereby. Upon a caisson was placed the 
 casket and conveyed to Hollywood Cemetery. 
 
 His faithful colored body-servant led the famous old 
 sorrel horse that had carried him through so many battles. 
 At the battle of Fredericksburg, General J. E. B. Stuart, 
 with the aid of his servant, had provided the old horse 
 with an entirely new equipment — new saddle and bridle — 
 and when his men saw their general seated on his familiar 
 old sorrel, bedecked and ornamented with the new trap- 
 pings, they were utterly amazed at the improvement. His 
 new uniform of Confederate grey, which had been pro- 
 cured for the general without his knowledge, became him 
 well and was admired by all. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 In turning back a page of my life, my memory recalls 
 several members of the 1st Howitzers, to which I belonged 
 during the great war. One was Lieutenant John Nimmo, 
 
73 
 who joined in the year 1861, just before the company- 
 left Richmond for the front. He was living in New York 
 when the war began, but returned to his native State, 
 and joined us, being elected to a lieutenancy. His 
 physique was remarkable, being very tall, and as slim as 
 a fence rail almost, and with a long neck and mustaches 
 as flowing as those of a "grenadier of the foot guards" of 
 France. His individuality was markeck possessing a great 
 fund of wit and humor, enlivened by a slight vein of 
 sarcasm. He had read a good deal, and had also touched 
 elbows with the great world, which rendered liis conver- 
 sation always very entertaining. His gallantry on the 
 field of battle was conspicuous, being one of the coolest 
 men in action that I ever saw. His memory is cherished 
 highly by every surviving member of the company. He 
 has long since passed to the "bourne whence no traveller 
 returns," and rests on the other side of the river. 
 
 A striking member of our company, ' ' the 1st Howitzers, ' ' 
 was Carey Eggleston. He was a long, gawky looking 
 young soldier, and did not make a very good showing on 
 dress parade, but just as soon as fight opened, and our 
 guns were turned loose upon the enemy, his whole nature 
 seemed to change with the excitement, and he seemed 
 exhilarated with ardor of battle. At the battle of Spot- 
 sylvania Court House he was acting number one at the 
 gun where I was number three, when a fragment of shell 
 shattered his arm. Gangrene afterwards set in and caused 
 his death. He was but a mere youth, only eighteen years 
 old, and was the only one I ever knew that really loved 
 fighting. 
 
 Of some interest to many is the 7 :32 A.M. accommodation 
 train on the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Rail- 
 road from Ashland to Richmond. It conveys as passen- 
 
74 
 
 gers daily business and professional men to the city. A 
 prominent characteristic of these travelers is the haste 
 displayed by each in getting the morning's paper; indeed 
 it seems that to secure one at all hazards and risks, the 
 most desirable accomplishment in daily life, and then to 
 quickly board the train and rush for a seat on the shady 
 side — if it happens to be the summer season — while the 
 less fortunate make out the best they can on the sunny 
 side. The choice of seats, of course, is reversed in the 
 winter time, when the sun is the favorite side. After ob- 
 taining his favorite seat the "newspaper fiend" draws his 
 paper, folds, presses down its side in the most skillful way, 
 and then holds its pages up to his eager gaze with the 
 thrilling delight of what he gleans in its perusal. This 
 folding and preparation of the journal is done with a 
 peculiar expertness by the veteran news fiend, for instance, 
 when he wishes to find the continuance of an article from 
 one page to another, he will turn it over and rearrange 
 it in a most adroit manner, that no amateur could per- 
 form ; only the genuine newspaper fiend could accomplish 
 such a result. He first folds the sheets into a quarto or 
 folio size with the greatest finesse, and takes fresh hold 
 reading. "When you notice his lips quiver, he has come to 
 something especially interesting; he becomes quite obliv- 
 ious to all outside influences, being entirely absorbed in 
 what he is enjoying in the columns of the news items. As 
 a matter of fact he is not fond of books ; a fine volume 
 of literature is not varied enough for his tastes. The 
 morning paper, fresh with news of the whole world, ap- 
 pears to him as a perfect kaleidoscope of reading matter, 
 which he perfectly appreciates until the train reaches its 
 destination. 
 
 During the battles around Richmond, when the Federal 
 
75 
 army under General Geo. B. McClellan invested the city. 
 one of the brighest pages in the history of the Confederate 
 war was enacted. The noble women of the South by a eon- 
 cert of action, united in aiding the surgeons in alleviating 
 the pain and suffering of the wounded. The whole seemed 
 a veritable hospital. Even the churches were stripped of 
 their cushions to be used therein for the comfort of those 
 who were brought in from the front. The kind sympathy 
 and cheering words of these devoted women caused many 
 a wounded soldier to look and revere and thank his 
 Creator that such ministering angels had been provided 
 to sooth him and inspire hope in his weak and stricken 
 body. This gracious and noble conduct of the women of 
 the Confederacy forms one of the most valuable pages 
 in the annals of the great war between the North and 
 South. Many who took part in that memorable struggle 
 and strenuous time have passed over the river that sepa- 
 rates life from eternity, but their deeds and their memory 
 will be cherished as long as time endures. 
 
 A gleaning of some moment is the tearing down of the 
 old Reuger building to give place to a new and more mod- 
 ern structure of ten stories. It will stand upon the site 
 of the original house, on the corner of Ninth and Bank 
 Streets, where it had stood for more than half a century 
 as a restaurant and hotel. It is doubtful if any establish- 
 ment of its kind ever dispensed better cheer in either 
 liquor or substantial refreshments, than the "Reugers" — 
 father, son and grandsons — served up to their many 
 patrons. In the new hostelry there will be maintained the 
 same high prestige hitherto enjoyed by the lovers of good 
 fare in. Richmond and vicinity. 
 
 A prominent person in Richmond during the period 
 "antebellum," was Captain Sam Freeman, who was the 
 
76 
 superintendent of Capitol Square and the public build- 
 ings within the same. It was he that introduced the 
 squirrels on the grounds, and took a good deal of interest 
 in and care of them, being his especial pets. After the 
 close of the great war, the former office was merged 
 in that of the Land office and Superintendent of Public 
 Buildings. 
 
 I recall a very high-toned gentleman, a first-class Vir- 
 ginian, who was waiting upon a very attractive lady, who 
 was riding in a carriage with the window down. He being 
 at the time on horseback, and drawing alongside the 
 vehicle, he leaned over and remarked to her : ''Miss Judy, 
 I have a disagreeable duty to perform, namely, to court 
 you." She very promptly replied: "Well, Colonel, if 
 it is such a disagreeable task to you, I would advise you 
 not to perform it." But being so full of his subject, he 
 continued his courtship, and, of course, was promptly 
 discarded. She afterwards married another gentleman 
 who was more tactful in his mode of courting her. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 An incident which I recall to memory was : There was 
 a Mrs. R. C. Cabell, a sister of old General Wingfield Scott, 
 one of the leaders of society in her day in Richmond. She 
 drove to her carriage a fine pair of slick brown mules, 
 well roached. It was swung on "C" shaped leather 
 springs, and had steps which were unfolded for the occu- 
 pants to descend or ascend. The seat of the coachman 
 was perched high up in front, and altogether it was a 
 truly unique turnout, which always attracted much notice. 
 In general appearance it was quite similar to the vehicle 
 exhibited in the wild west show of Buffalo Bill. 
 
 A significant evidence of the great commercial develop- 
 
77 
 ment and advance in importance is proven by the estab- 
 lishment in Kichmond of the office of Winston and Com- 
 pany, engineers and contractors. This eminent firm is 
 composed of native Virginians, "to the mannor-born, " and 
 their thorough knowledge of the profession places them 
 in the front rank in this country, and by means of their 
 skill and experience are able to handle the most intricate 
 problems that may be submitted to them in both civil and 
 mechanical engineering line. This distinguished firm of 
 native Virginians now has under construction the contract 
 with the City of New York, involving several millions of 
 dollars, to concentrate and dam-up the waters of several 
 streams in the Catskills, and then to convey by means of 
 tunnels and aqueducts under the Hudson River many 
 miles, for the purpose of adding to the supply of water 
 for that centre of population. 
 
 This is indeed a gigantic undertaking and is almost 
 equal in importance to the country at large as is that of 
 the Panama Canal, now being built by the United States 
 government. This firm of Southern men has built im- 
 portant works for Boston, as well as that celebrated piece 
 of work, the settling basins, for Richmond, which gives 
 us such fine, clear water as we now enjoy. 
 
 The prominent firm, the Messrs. T. "W. Wood and Sons, 
 seedsmen, is a business of large proportions. Its products 
 are thus distributed throughout this State and the other 
 Southern ones. Mr. Henry W. Wood, the head of the 
 house, is a merchant of great capacity, who through his 
 fine methods has built up the largest and most important 
 seed business in his city, and furnishes the farmers of this 
 State and elsewhere with a most important article of 
 agriculture, to-wit: pure and well selected seeds. This 
 eminent concern bears a striking evidence of the im- 
 
78 
 provement which the evolution of the wheel of time has 
 wrought. 
 
 On the Ashland accomodation train one day there were 
 seated two persons, whom we shall designate as Mr. T. 
 and Mr. S. They were sitting on opposite sides of the 
 aisle of the car and the latter had a horse that Mr. T. 
 knew, and the conversation ranged on the subject of horse- 
 flesh, or rather their knowledge of the same, and inci- 
 dentally Mr. S. said that he would take twenty-five dollars 
 for his animal. Mr. T. at once produced the sum and 
 handed it over to Mr. S., who took the money and dashed 
 it down to the floor, exclaiming that he was only jesting 
 and did not desire to sell his horse for the price stated. 
 In reply Mr. T\ said that it was a plain transaction with 
 him, and that he claimed a delivery of the horse, to which 
 demand Mr. S. demurred. The case was finally carried to 
 the court of Hanover county, and was at last settled by 
 awarding Mr. T. fifty dollars in lieu of the nag, which 
 belonged to the firm of S. and H. This was one of the 
 most remarkable cases ever on the docket of the Circuit 
 Court of Hanover for many years. 
 
 In the good old county of Goochland there lived two men 
 who were neighbors and great friends, and as a matter of 
 course took an interest in each other's welfare. They were 
 in one respect totally different in character: The one 
 was very neat and tidy in his attire ; but his friend was 
 quite the opposite, being careless in his dress and rather 
 untidy in his appearance. As he was about to move to 
 Richmond to reside, his friend kindly offered him some 
 good advice. Said he: "Since you are going to a city to 
 reside, where one's dress is more scrutinized than in the 
 country, the first thing on reaching town go to 0. H. 
 Berry's Clothing House, corner Eleventh and Main Streets, 
 
79 
 and buy a fashionable cutaway suit of clothes. And 
 then I would advise with your white shirt you wear a 
 white necktie whenever an occasion offers, as it is the 
 proper thing to do." He accordingly adopted his good 
 friend's advice and then wrote as follows: 
 
 "I have done as you suggested; went to 0. H. Berry's 
 elegant establishment, where I procured the latest shape 
 in cutaway suits, but in regard to that white necktie, dear 
 boy ! I am constrained to say that from my observation 
 here, they are, except by preachers, worn mostly by the 
 barbers and colored waiters in the restaurants. Still, to 
 please my good friend, I shall decorate my neck with one 
 when occasion offers." 
 
 Edward S. McCarthy was elected captain of the 1st 
 Company of Richmond Howitzers at the reorganiza- 
 tion on the Peninsular in 1862. He was possessed 
 of a most decided personality; he was rather stout 
 in figure, with a large, full face, piercing eyes, and 
 in manner rather inclined to be reticent in speech ; but he 
 had a heart as large as a barn door, was sympathetic 
 with all who needed a friend and as brave as Marshall 
 Ney. Careful of his men under fire, never seeking his 
 own protection, even under the most trying ordeal of a 
 very severe fire from the enemy's guns, such was the 
 character of Captain Edward S. McCarthy, the gallant 
 commander of the 1st Company Richmond Howitzers, who 
 was struck, at the second battle of Cold Harbor, by a 
 minnie ball from the rifle of a sharp-shooter. The brave 
 and noble soldier never uttered a word after the fatal 
 ball entered his body. I was within three feet of him 
 when he fell. No more gallant soul, no finer Virginian 
 gentleman ever yielded up the ghost on the field of patriot- 
 ism and duty than this Confederate warrior. What an 
 
80 
 
 awful thing is war ; when such specimens of manhood may 
 be immolated upon the red, gory alter of the God of War. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 During that heavy snowfall in the winter of 1858, the 
 passenger train on the then called Virginia Central Rail- 
 road — now named the Chesapeake and Ohio — was stalled 
 and completely held-up by a tremendous drift just oppo- 
 site the well known farm, "Strawberry Hill," which is 
 about six miles from Richmond. On the train, as a pas- 
 senger, was a Mrs. Jones, a distinguished actress of that 
 time, and there was also aboard the cars a Mr. Hugh Fry, 
 of Richmond. The passengers all decided to leave the 
 train and go up to the house for diversion or entertain- 
 ment. 
 
 Mrs. Jones found herself involved in a dilemma, as she 
 had on but a very thin pair of shoes, whereupon Mr. 
 Fry, with the gallantry of a Sir Walter Raleigh, came 
 to her relief and took off the boots he was wearing and 
 insisted on her using them. Then came up an unforeseen 
 difficulty to be overcome; the legs of his boots were too 
 small for the fair lady's understandings, whereupon Mr. 
 Fry with his pen-knife slit the tops so that they went 
 on smoothly and thus kept the feet of the fair wearer 
 dry and quite comfortable. 
 
 This incident of the antebellum days was regarded as 
 one of the best displays of knight-errantry in the annals' 
 of the Old Dominion. 
 
 One of the most pleasant and entertaining clubs in the 
 1st Company of the Richmond Howitzers was the card 
 club. Nearly every game in Hoyle was played, but the 
 most popular one was draw poker. We used corn grains 
 for chips, and the antes were not very large in amount, 
 
81 
 as we were then receiving as pay only twelve dollars 
 per month, and that at long intervals. When a player 
 had not the cash to settle up with the game, he would 
 give an order on next forthcoming pay, which was always 
 honored. Some of the men became good poker players 
 Many of those who were then participants in the game 
 of cards, as well as of "grim war," have passed away 
 to the other side of the great river of life. 
 
 I recall some of the most pleasant times of army life, 
 while we were encamped in winter quarters, in the en- 
 joyment incident to a good game of "poker." They were 
 as a rule genial, bright fellows, and good cannoneers as 
 well, but always ready for the call to arms. We were 
 then all young and hopeful; the survivors are now old 
 and quite "unsteady on their pins." Their gait is slow, 
 and many winters have frosted their once sunny locks. 
 
 In the good town of Ashland, in Hanover county, Va., sit- 
 uated about sixteen miles north of Richmond, on The Rich- 
 mond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railway, is to be found 
 one of the very prettiest towns in the South. This place 
 enjoys the distinction of being the birthplace of the illus- 
 trious statesman, Henry Clay, called the "Great Com- 
 moner," whose efforts in Congress postponed the dread- 
 ful strife between the sections for many years. It was he 
 who uttered the lofty, patriotic words, "I would rather 
 be' right than be President." Ashland is not very far 
 from Hanover Court House, where John Randolph and 
 Patrick Henry, the renowed orator of the Revolution, 
 locked horns in the trial of the famous Parson's tobacco 
 case, in which the former, Mr. Randolph, came very near 
 putting the great pleader "on the gridiron." The cele- 
 brated college at this place, named after two distinguished 
 men, "Randolph-Macon," is one of the best and most 
 
82 
 prosperious institutions of learning in the State, with a 
 corps of professors of ripest scholarship and thoroughly- 
 equipped for the respective chairs of instruction which 
 they fill. The town has good water and excellent social 
 advantages, being two most important elements for com- 
 fort and pleasure in any place of residence. The large, 
 old forest trees, which still stand in their pristine grandeur 
 in the streets and yards of Ashland, add much to its ap- 
 pearance and render it attractive. Many people come to 
 this village to spend the summer months and enjoy the 
 advantages it affords of country, pure air and also its 
 nearness to the city. Mr. Robinson, who was one of the 
 first presidents of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Poto- 
 mac Railroad, took great interest in Ashland and did 
 much to advance it in every respect. He established a 
 fine, turfed race course and started many other improve- 
 ments which have all now passed away and are only 
 remembered by the elder members of the community. An 
 attractive and well-kept hotel occupies a prominent posi- 
 tion on the main street fronting the railroad, and is well 
 patronized. So that taking into consideration all the 
 conveniences and beauties of the town, it may well be 
 called a desirable place for a home. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 The morning accommodation train on the Richmond, 
 Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad is, you may say, 
 somewhat unique, since among its regular passengers or 
 commuters from Ashland may be found almost every kind 
 of human industry represented. For instance, there is the 
 lawyer, and there the judge as well. The representative 
 of the steam and marine navigation insurance. Also a 
 representative of agricultural implements. The interests 
 
83 
 of the tiller of the soil are likewise well represented, and 
 last, though not least, the grain and feed business has its 
 agent here, with various other lines of commercial life 
 well represented, all forming a most pleasant company of 
 genial and sociable men. The conversation abounds in 
 honest interchange of ideas, which are both instructive 
 and entertaining. In these cases there are but little or 
 no egotism indulged in, only a clear-cut discussion of 
 questions and topics which are daily presented to every- 
 body at this time. The daily morning and evening news- 
 papers, which are full of all the stirring events of the 
 day, being perused by all, and thus each and every man 
 obtains therefrom plenty of information as food for a 
 general diffusion of thoughts and ideas. Hence this train 
 may be truly a unique one. 
 
 An interesting incident was that of the independent 
 fire department of Richmond in the days before the war. 
 This consisted of several companies, between which there 
 existed a considerable degree of rivalry. The engine and 
 the reel, or hose carriage, were drawn by the men. Cap- 
 tain John Fry commanded number three engine. Captain 
 Bargamin was chief of number one. As a matter of course 
 where there was so much rivalry among them, at every 
 fire there arose a contention as to which company was 
 entitled to attach its hose to the nearest plug, and it 
 generally resulted in a free fight between the two com- 
 panies. Then fighting was only regarded as a sort of 
 recreation or a manly sport. But time and the exper- 
 ience in the late war taught them to look upon it in an 
 entirely different light. Such is the change of sentiment 
 and morals produced by time and trouble. 
 
 Our present splendid fire department, under the pay 
 system, is one of the city's best assets, presents quite a 
 
84 
 contrast to the old days. With the new automobile fire 
 engines, carrying .hose, ladders, chemical apparatus and 
 everything needed at a big fire, capable of throwing pow- 
 erful streams of water, the fires of today do not reach 
 often to conflagrations of the size as of yore. The whole 
 system now works like a clock. And the employment of 
 the best mechanical skill, in addition to the use of the 
 motor power to supersede horse power, proves the rapid 
 and great advance of modern conveniences as contrasted 
 with the old-fashioned, hand-power machines. 
 
 The people of the United States of North America 
 at this time are confronted with many important and in- 
 tricate problems of government for their solution. Indeed, 
 we have reached a crisis in the political and commercial 
 life of the country. At this writing, the fall of the year 
 1912, the country is on the eve of an important presi- 
 dential election. Governor Woodrow Wilson, of New 
 Jersey, and Governor Thomas R. Marshall, of Indiana, head 
 the Democratic ticket. Mr. Wm. H. Taft, the incumbent, 
 is the nominee of the regular Republican Protection party ; 
 while Colonel Theodore Roosevelt is the leader of the third 
 party of high tariff ites, commonly termed the Bull Moose 
 or National Progressives. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 The letter of acceptance of each of the candidates gives 
 to some extent the policy of the administration that is 
 advocated by them. There are some wrongs to remedy and 
 some new measures to adjust and policies to inaugurate. 
 In the meantime the people are looking with eager eyes at 
 the contest and are anxious to know the final result in 
 November as to which party will be successful and the 
 
85 
 kind of government that will rule them after the 4th 
 of March, 1913. 
 
 An interesting history of by-gone days was that of the 
 old James River and Kanawha Canal, which was in its 
 day a very important means of transportation to all points 
 situated in the valley of the James above Richmond to 
 the westward. The State of Virginia, which built and 
 owned it at the beginning of the war, sold it to the Rich- 
 mond and Alleghany Railroad Company, which construct- 
 ed a railroad on its bank known as the Richmond and 
 and Alleghany Railroad. This road finally fell to the con- 
 trol of the Chesapeake and Ohio Company by purchase of 
 its stock and bonds, and thus the use of that fine work 
 as a means of transport became a thing of the past — 
 too slow for the age of steam and electricity. 
 
 A striking feature of Richmond during the war were 
 the levees or social receptions held at the Governor's 
 Mansion every Thursday night. They were largely at- 
 tended by the citizens as well as by the soldiers that were 
 passing through the city, affording a pleasant opportunity 
 to the boys in grey to and from the front, to meet the 
 fair ladies of the Confederacy, who lent their charming 
 presence and society for the enjoyment of the officers and 
 men, affording a very delightful recreation and change 
 from the hardships and many privations of field duty. 
 
 Colonel William Smith, nick-named Extra Billy while 
 in Congress, was one of the bravest and most popular offi- 
 cers in the Army of Northern Virginia. His regiment 
 had won distinction on many fields of battle. An election 
 was held in the army and every man in all the Virginia 
 regiments voted for him to be the Governor of Virginia, 
 and it proved a wise selection, for his intense devotion 
 to the cause of the Confederacy, as well as his conspicious 
 
86 
 gallantry, endeared him to every one who wore the gray. 
 Very well do I recall the occasion when the guests at 
 the Mansion passed in review and gave him the compli- 
 ments of the evening. His genial manners to all will long 
 be remembered. 
 
 Doctor Hunter McGuire, the medical director of Stone- 
 wall Jackson's corps, by his sympathetic manner and 
 great skill as a sergeon, saved many a poor Confederate's 
 life and also soothed his suffering body when tortured by 
 wounds received in battle. He was the physician who 
 attended his mortally wounded chief, after he was stricken 
 down at Chancellorsville, by the accidental fire of his own 
 men. All that could be done, he did to save his valuable 
 life, but all was in vain, as pneumonia set in and the great 
 soldier passed away, to the deepest sorrow and grief of 
 the whole South. Doctor McGuire, after the war, settled 
 in Richmond and established a very large and lucrative 
 practice, gaining a national reputation as an eminent sur- 
 geon, his operations in the line of surgery being quoted 
 all over the country for their skillful application of the 
 principles of that great art. 
 
 Doctor McGuire 's great, tender heart was always open 
 to the needs of the Confederate soldier, or to the aid of 
 the "Lost Cause" in keeping alive in the memories the 
 glories of those who fell in defense of their homes and 
 families. His memory is still revered by the old and the 
 young for his many noble traits of character and his deeds 
 as a citizen and physician. 
 
 A man by the name of Robert Jennings was a sergeant 
 in the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry, and when his regiment 
 was passing through the county of Matthews, during the 
 war, he was so much pleased with the surroundings that 
 he said if he came out of the conflict unharmed, he would 
 
87 
 buy a farm there, and as he was fortunate enough to 
 survive, both sound and well, and being the possessor of 
 a snug sum of ready money, he carried out his intentions 
 by purchasing a nice home and launched out in the very 
 laudable occupation of tilling the soil. "Colonel Bob," as 
 he was called, being of a genial nature, attended court at 
 the county seat every court day, his object in so doing was 
 to become well acquainted with the citizens, and being a 
 man of means and of a liberal disposition, he treated, or 
 "set up" drinks and cigars to the people very freely. He 
 began by ordering the best to be had, such as fifteen-cent 
 drinks in thin glasses and Henry Clay regalia cigars, and 
 consequently became exceedingly popular, indeed was one 
 of the most popular men in Matthews county, on account 
 of his liberality and frequent attendance on court day. His 
 farm and affairs were neglected, which compelled him to 
 mortgage his property and was thus reduced to the neces- 
 sity of ordering ten-cent drinks and cheaper cigars. So 
 they, from calling him "Colonel," changed his title to 
 "Major Bob," and as he still neglected his farm and its 
 management, and was again forced by lack of money to 
 put a second deed of trust on his farm, he was now reduced 
 to the rank of "Captain Bob." He then reduced the cost 
 of his drinks down to "shorts," or five-cent drams, and 
 stogies for smokes. "Well, finally things went from bad to 
 worse, and Captain Bob had to place a third deed or 
 mortgage on his place, and then it went into the hands of 
 the trustee and was advertised for sale. A man from Min- 
 nesota came and said that he liked the place and also liked 
 the people, as they were in general simple-minded, honest 
 folks, he would send his son down in the winter and he 
 would come in the summer. 
 
 ' ' Bob, ' ' for they now only called him plain ' ' Bob, ' ' over- 
 
88 
 heard the man say "a simple-minded people," remarked: 
 "Well, that is what I thought a few years ago, when I first 
 came down here, with about seventy-five thousand dollars, 
 and now I haven't got money enough left to pay my steam- 
 boat fare to the city of Norfolk" ; and whatever afterwards 
 became of Mr. Robert Jennings I do not know. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 When General McClellan advanced up the peninsular 
 formed by the James and York Rivers, from Yorktown and 
 Old Point Comfort, and laid seige to Richmond in the 
 spring of the year 1862, the Federal gunboats steamed 
 up the James River and attempted to pass by the Con- 
 federate fortifications at Drewry's Bluff, called "Fort 
 Darling" by the Federals, and then began a fierce artillery 
 duel between them. At the crisis of the battle the prin- 
 cipal gun, a thirty pounder, was thrown from its trunions, 
 and by the skill and coolness at this critical juncture of 
 Major Jno. G. Clarke, the engineer in charge, it was 
 safely remounted and the enemy's fleet repulsed, thus 
 saving the city from bombardment. Major Clarke was 
 promoted to the rank of colonel of the engineer 
 corps, and was at the battle of Gettysburg, where he 
 directed and superintended the placing of the pontoon 
 bridges at "Falling Waters" for General Lee's army to 
 pass over after the fight. He was then promoted again to 
 be full colonel of engineers. Upon the death of Colonel 
 Harris he was put in command of Charleston, S. C. 
 
 During the important period of history known as "Re- 
 construction," General Canby sent one of his aides, a 
 Lieutenant Terfew, to the county of Henry, in order to 
 reduce the population to terms. The county seat was his 
 destination and court was in session when he arrived and 
 
at the mid-day recess. This officer, upon dismounting, 
 very warm and dusty, it being the latter part of June, 
 found a large number of citizens assembled in front of 
 the hotel, to whom he stated, that by order of General 
 Canby, he was there to reconstruct the county and to 
 inaugurate amicable relations between the government at 
 Richmond and the good people of the county and thus 
 prevent friction. The crowd present selected as their 
 spokesman an old justice of the peace, and accordingly 
 addressed the officer in these words: 
 
 Lieutenant Terf ew, sir : Any one coming to the good 
 old county of Henry with such good credentials as you 
 bear, to-wit : The sword in one hand and the olive branch 
 in the other, a slight or any discourtesy extended or 
 offered you will be regarded by each one of us as an 
 affront individually, and will be resented and treated 
 as it deserves." After this the lieutenant inquired if he 
 could procure any refreshment, whereupon the landlord 
 stepped forward and said: "Oh, yes, just follow." The 
 officer then invited the whole party to join him in a 
 sociable drink. Eleven of them accepted ; among them 
 was the justice who had replied. They walked up the 
 passageway, then faced to the right and then front-faced 
 to the counter at the bar and each called for what he 
 wished. Each one took apple brandy. Then he remarked: 
 "Gentlemen, as I am tired and thirsty, I wish to repeat, 
 won't you all again join me." Upon this the old justice 
 spoke up thus: "Now, lieutenant, we will repeat, but 
 not at your expense. Landlord, just chalk the last drinks 
 down to me." As they were filing out of the bar the 
 landlord beckoned to the lieutenant and asked him who 
 was going to pay for those last drinks. "That old fellow 
 has been playing that trick on me for the last five years," 
 
90 
 he said. The result was that the officer was successful 
 in fully reconstructing the county. 
 
 Just before the close of the war a foraging squad of 
 Federal cavalry, under the command of Lieutenant Row- 
 land Wood, was sent out and reached the fine, old colonial 
 residence of a Mrs. Swann, whose plantation was well 
 stocked and in fair condition, as in fact many places had 
 not suffered from the visits of the foragers and prowlers 
 of either army. Indeed this was one of the fortunate 
 ones. It was named "Meadow Brook," and was truly 
 a very fine estate. The ladies of the mansion used an old- 
 fashioned knocker on the front door ; and Miss Ida Swann 
 answered the front door. The officer was struck as soon 
 as she appeared, as he recognized in her the same young 
 lady that he had known and greatly admired before the 
 war. She was the ideal Virginian girl, high spirited and 
 loyal to the South, with an independent bearing, a char- 
 acteristic of the well-bred country maiden. She was fond 
 of out-door life and exercises, like Diana Vernon, so beau- 
 tifully described by Sir Walter Scott in one of his novels. 
 The Federal officer stated his errand in the most polite 
 way, of course, which was to some extent a matter of 
 embarrassment to him under the circumstances, and after 
 having made an inspection and found that there was 
 comparatively nothing on the premises which would be 
 of any value to the cavalry service, he came across her 
 own riding horse, which he decided was too delicate to 
 bear a trooper. So he returned to camp, having done noth- 
 ing injurious to the place. It happened this was near 
 the close of the war, and shortly afterwards the Southern 
 army surrendered at Appomattox to General U. S. Grant. 
 Then the lieutenant cast aside his uniform and donned 
 a citizen's suit, and after things had quited down, he con- 
 
91 
 eluded to make a friendly visit to "Meadow Brook," 
 where he found Miss Swann in the bloom of health and 
 buoyant spirits. And by his manly and straight-forward 
 course of conduct, he gradually regained his former posi- 
 tion in her esteem and by degrees the old flame of affec- 
 tion was rekindled, and in the old church near-by they 
 stood before the altar and plighted their mutual troth 
 and vows and were made man and wife by the sacred rites 
 of matrimony. Their life has been, and is now, one of 
 connubial bliss and contentment with their lot, because 
 of the pure love and congeniality existing between them. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 In this, the first decade of the twentieth century, we 
 find new conditions confronting the people called by many 
 in the political sense, "Progressive/' There are many 
 conditions in both the commercial and political orders of 
 the time which are deemed by the leaders to need a 
 change. For instance, the control of cities through new 
 municipal legislation, and a Board of Control, or Admin- 
 istration. In the national affairs : The election of Sen- 
 ators by the direct vote of the people, and by the means 
 of primary elections in the States in the nomination of 
 candidates for the Presidency, instead of the old modes 
 of by conventions and legislatures. Time will surely prove 
 whether the changes called for, and now inaugurated 
 in some cities and States, will be any improvement over 
 the former system. 
 
 We are now living in an age of decided change and 
 advances. Everything that conduces to the progress and 
 betterment of society, in its general sense, ought to be 
 given a trial in order that the masses of citizens may be 
 
92 
 uplifted and conditions of living be ameliorated and ad- 
 vanced, both physically and morally. 
 
 It has been asserted that the Confederate soldier was 
 addicted to the evil habit of emphasizing his ordinary 
 conversation in a manner of speech not admissable in 
 a Sunday school room. As a matter of fact a great many 
 of the hardest fighters and most gallant commanders were 
 real profane men, that seemed to believe that an order 
 accompanied by an oath would be executed with more 
 dispatch than if not so given. Many soldiers were kept 
 from using oaths before a battle on account of the penalty 
 accruing from breaking the Third Commandment, to-wit: 
 ''Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in 
 vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless, that taketh 
 his name in vain." I do not think there was more swear- 
 ing among soldiers than there was before the war. To 
 say the least, the habit is very vulgar and unrefined, 
 aside from its wickedness, and should never be taught 
 children ; yet there have been occasions when an oath 
 seemed to give an order more effect and vim ; still it is 
 not advisable and should be only, if at all, used seldom 
 in any company, but such is the frailty of human nature 
 that soldiers are prone to do that which they ought not 
 to do. I am opposed to cursing, and think it ought never 
 to be resorted to if possible to avoid it. The human family, 
 if it tries hard so to do, can abstain from the habit, and 
 they can accustom themselves to speak without violating 
 the commandment of God. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 Years ago there settled in the county of Hanover a 
 Mr. James Ames and Jane, his wife. They were very 
 industrious, thrifty citizens. He had purchased his farm 
 
93 
 through a real estate firm of Richmond, on the terms of 
 three equal payments. He paid promptly the first two, 
 but six months before the third one fell due, he found him- 
 self confronted with unforeseen conditions : There had 
 been a long, distressing drought, which had cut short his 
 crops, and one of his mules had broken his leg, so that 
 altogether he was in a sad state of mind. The third and 
 last installment on his farm was nearly due and his wife, 
 who was a sensible and practical woman, said to him, now 
 let me see if I can assist in this difficulty, to which he 
 assented. Accordingly she went to Richmond to the firm 
 from which the farm was bought, with that native dignity 
 inherent to the country lady, and asked to see the head 
 of the firm, and was told that he was not in, being detained 
 at his home on account of sickness in his family, upon 
 which she obtained the address of his residence, where 
 she went, and finding him, stated her business. He told 
 her that he was quite unfit to attend to any kind of busi- 
 ness by reason of his distress ; whereupon she told him 
 that she was a skillful nurse, and that if he so desired it, 
 she would remain over in town a few days and would 
 assist in nursing his sick family that was suffering with 
 measles, requiring constant, careful nursing. Under her 
 efficient attentions and skillful nursing they were finally 
 restored to health and to their normal condition. So he 
 rode down to his office with Mrs. Ames, and asking for 
 the deed he marked the balance due paid in full. It thus 
 resulted that James obtained a clear title to his farm 
 through the cleverness of his good wife. Now what is 
 it that a good smart woman cannot accomplish ? 
 
 A prominent, burning question of the day and time is 
 that of woman suffrage, and why not give them the right 
 to vote ? This is a day of progress and change, and the 
 
94 
 right of females to exercise the privilege of suffrage should 
 be freely accorded the sex which has really had a con- 
 trolling influence in the affairs of mankind since the day 
 of Adam and Eve. Did she not, hy means of her per- 
 suasive arguments, induce, through mother Eve, the 
 father of men, Adam, to eat of the forbidden fruit? 
 Woman has always been a beacon light to man in guiding 
 him in the paths of right and duty. 
 
 Yes, indeed, there are many worse things in human 
 economy than woman suffrage. So it is to be hoped that 
 the next General Assembly of Virginia may accede to the 
 petitions presented them in advancing the cause of equal 
 suffrage. Woman is now the great propelling force of 
 the present age of political economy. They have always 
 exercised the right to vote, I believe, in choosing vestry- 
 men of the church, and in some school matters in some 
 cities, and so why not give them the right to participate 
 in regular elections of State and municipal officers? It 
 is the inherent right or privilege of the sex to do as she 
 pleases or deserves, and there should be no law to prevent 
 her exercising her own sweet will in such matters. I 
 believe women are possessed of as much intelligence as 
 men are, and in some respects they have more, hence they 
 should not be debarred from the polls in the general 
 elections of those who are to represent them, as well as 
 men, in the administration of everyday affairs. I should 
 like to be a registrar of precinct which numbered a large 
 proportion of suffragettes. I would not challenge the vote 
 of a single one 
 
 The Howitzer Association is formed of the surviving 
 members of the three companies, the first, the second 
 and third. It has a reunion and banquet on each thir- 
 teenth day of December, which is the anniversary of the 
 
95 
 battle of Fredericksburg. A good supper is spread on 
 that night and many recollections of the great war are 
 recalled and renewal of fellowship and general inter- 
 course is enjoyed, which cements the attachments between 
 each of the survivors of the three companies. Alas ! How 
 sad to realize that so many of your comrades have passed 
 away. 
 
 In the voyage of life you sometimes meet persons, who 
 say that they wish to banish all reminder of the great 
 war between the States, or as we say, the Confederacy. 
 Such people it might be properly asked, did they fight 
 so hard, and were they so zealous that they dislike to 
 revert to their prowess on the field of battle? Or did 
 they shirk their duty to their country so very adroitly 
 that they hate to be reminded of it? The true soldier 
 of the Confederacy, the gallant boy who shouldered a 
 musket at the call to defend his home and fireside, and 
 who faithfully performed his duty, whether as a private 
 or as an officer, should have no desire to entirely wipe 
 out of memory that eventful period in his own history, 
 and of his country that awful time which tested the 
 metal of which men were made, but he should wish rather 
 to have a full and correct account of that great conflict 
 given to the present and the future generations. 
 
 The majority of the survivors of the Confederate armies 
 do not believe that they ought to forget or erase from 
 their minds all memory of the battles of Sharpsburg or 
 Antietam, of Spottsylvania Court House, of Gettysburg, 
 or of Chickamauga and Shiloh. I am at a loss to com- 
 prehend from what basis these tender-nerved Confed- 
 erates reason, and I reflect that fortunately there exists 
 but a few such among those who "wore the gray.'' 
 
 In the days by-gone there lived in Richmond a promi- 
 
96 
 
 nent dealer in horses and mules by the name of Benjamin 
 Green, whose early career began as a contractor, having 
 built the bridge over the James River for the railroad 
 to Petersburg. His establishment was the largest entre- 
 prise in the livestock line in Virginia. It was generally 
 conceded that any one who was so unfortunate as to have 
 a transaction with him was certain to be worsted, or at 
 least to get the small end of the trade. His intercourse 
 with the farmers was very extensive and it was said that 
 any man who purchased an animal and threw himself upon 
 Green's honor in the transaction, never failed to obtain 
 a fair, square deal. In the other hand, if the purchaser 
 relied upon his own judgment of an animal he was very 
 apt to get the worst of the bargain. Ben Green was a 
 smooth talker and a keen, first-class salesman. His resi- 
 dence was a beautiful place about two or three miles west 
 of the city on the Broad Street Road, where he enter- 
 tained his guests in a sumptuous manner, and was looked 
 upon as one of the most remarkable men in the State. 
 
 Colonel Richard Adams was a prominent citizen of 
 Richmond and was at one time appointed high sheriff of 
 Henrico county. At that time the office was one of 
 dignity and emolument, and it was one that was 
 frequently sublet to a second party, and such was the 
 case with Colonel Adams. He then boarded at the old 
 Exchange Hotel when it was kept by Colonel Boykin, 
 he was a widower, being left with three children at 
 his wife's death. One of the latter was Mary Adams, 
 who married General George Randolph ; another one, 
 Catherine Adams, who died while attending the school 
 conducted by Mr. Le Febre, and a son by the name of 
 Samuel Adams, comprised his family. He was a life-long 
 friend of my father and his family and was a regular 
 
97 
 
 visitor of the same. He was a great epicure and if any- 
 one knew what was good in the way of living and the 
 proper way to cook a choice cut of meat, he was that 
 man. When we lived in the country he often came out, 
 and would always forestall his coming by sending us a 
 nice leg of mutton or lamb, a nice tenderloin of beef, a 
 roast of beef or a fine piece of sturgeon. My mother, 
 who was noted for her good housekeeping, always 
 directed the cooking of the particular dish which he sent 
 out to us. When it was placed upon the table, hot and 
 juicy, the old gentleman would exclaim that, "It is cooked 
 and served up to a dot, it could not be improved." 
 
 Colonel Adams was not what is known as a gouruiond, 
 but a high-toned Virginian gentleman, who preferred the 
 best meats to be obtained in the markets, and prepared for 
 the table in a manner that would cause the smiles and ap- 
 proval of epicures. One day he was dining with a friend 
 whose custom was to invite his guest to join him in a 
 toddy before the dinner was announced. Well, as the 
 gentlemen were standing in front of the sideboard, their 
 drinks were made of fine old Clemmer Whiskey, five years 
 old, oily and fragrant. Holding their glasses in their 
 
 hands, Mr. J commenced to tell an anecdote, but 
 
 the suspense becoming too great, the Colonel appealed to 
 him to jump over the bars, and not wait to pull them down, 
 in other words to razee his story so as to proceed with 
 their drinking, which would serve to whet their appetites 
 for the good dinner awaiting their presence. 
 
 The First Baptist Church, which is situated on the 
 corner of Broad and Twelfth Streets, is one of the oldest 
 ones in the City of Richmond. It stands on the same 
 ground it was built on nearly a century ago. Its pulpit 
 has been occupied by the most distinguished divines in 
 
98 
 
 the Baptist denomination, such, for instance, as Doctor 
 Broaddus, whose reputation as a pulpit orator has rarely, 
 if ever, been excelled, Doctor Lansing Burrows, who was 
 its pastor during the great war of 1861 to 1865 and after 
 the same Doctor Cooper, whose ministration as its pastor 
 is held in kindest reverence and esteem by all who were 
 fortunate enough to be under his pastorate charge. 
 
 This congregation is now served by one of the most 
 gifted clergymen in the church to which he belongs, but 
 also one of the most eloquent pulpit orators in the South, 
 namely, Doctor G. W. McDaniel. Were all the reminis- 
 cences of this sacred and strong edifice written up in full 
 it would fill a volume. 
 
 A prominent representative of the female element of 
 Richmond society previous to the war was Mrs. Cora 
 Ritchie Mowatt, a leader in the best social circles. She 
 was formerly an actress of distinction and of excellent 
 reputation. She had considerable literary ability and had 
 written a history of her life as an actress, entitled "An 
 Autobiography of An Actress." She afterwards married 
 William F. Ritchie, the editor of The Enquirer, the organ 
 of the Democratic party of the State of Virginia. This 
 talented and popular lady was truly a "beacon light" of 
 the social and fashionable society of the time. 
 
 A GLEANING OF HISTORY. 
 
 After the war the present or junior company of Rich- 
 mond Howitzers was organized or formed. It is well 
 officered, Captain Myers being its commander, Lieutenant 
 Pollard, first lieutenant, and Lieutenant Reese, second 
 lieutenant. Its commanders are young men of the first 
 character and material. The corps de esprit of the com- 
 pany is the highest order. It has the advantage over the 
 
99 
 old company, in as much as its battery and equipment is 
 of the very latest or advanced excellence of modern ordi- 
 nance. It is an ornament to the military organization of 
 the State and city, and no doubt may be entertained that 
 whenever an opportunity is offered it will sustain the 
 prestige of the old company. I do not intend to say that 
 the 1st, 2d and 3d companies of Howitzers were superior 
 to other artillery companies in the Army of Northern 
 Virginia, yet I do say that they were never placed in 
 position in any line of battle that they did not hold it 
 until ordered out. The young company is composed of 
 the same kind of material, hence it may be safely asserted 
 that the junior organization will perpetuate the name and 
 prestige of the old company. At the reunion of the How- 
 itzers Association, on the 13th of December, the junior 
 company are always welcomed guests. 
 
 From 1861 to 1862 the army of the Confederacy was un- 
 der the control of the several States composing the Con- 
 federacy on the peninsula. A reorganization of the army 
 occurred and the troops of the separate States were turned 
 over to the Confederate government and enlisted for the 
 war. New officers were elected and an entire change made 
 in reforming the Confederate Army. The name was then 
 changed from Army of the Potomac to Army of Northern 
 Virginia. 
 
 One of the most unique men Virginia ever produced was 
 Captain George Randolph, who was Secretary of War of 
 the Confederate States. He organized the First Company 
 of Richmond Howitzers; he had been in some way con- 
 nected with the United States Navy and he conceived 
 the idea of equipping the company with boat Howitzers 
 with a long trail attached to the piece and drawn by the 
 cannoneers. This plan was abandoned and the pieces 
 
100 
 were mounted on light carriages and drawn by two horses. 
 Captain Randolph was a lineal descendant of Thomas Jef- 
 ferson and a man of striking personality; in physique he 
 was tall and slender, with high cheek bones, with an eye 
 as clear seeing as an eagle. In social intercourse he was 
 rather reticent, though true as steel; he was a Democrat 
 and ardent advocate of the rights of the South. At this 
 time no Democrat received any political preferment in 
 Richmond, yet when they were casting around for the 
 ablest and best men to send to the Secession Con- 
 vention party lines were ignored and he was elected a 
 member, and a wise choice it was. His speeches and de- 
 bates were among the ablest, emenating from that group 
 of forensic and intellectual giants. Upon the secession of 
 Virginia he donned his artillery uniform and concentrated 
 all his force and energy in organizing the Howitzers 
 Battalion consisting of the first, second and third com- 
 panies. He was made Major. John C. Shields, captain 
 1st Company ; J. Thompson Brown, captain 2d Company ; 
 Robert Standard, captain 3d Company. Major Randolph, 
 with second and third companies was sent to the penin- 
 sula under General McGruder. The first company was 
 sent to Manasas under General Beauregard, thus forming 
 a part of the army of the Potomac. 
 
 After the lapse of time Mr. Davis realizing the brilliant 
 qualities of Major Randolph, appointed him Secretary of 
 War. Yet the ailment that he had long suffered with 
 caused him to resign and in quest of alleviation of his suf- 
 fering he took passage on a blockade runner and died 
 abroad. Mr. Seddon succeeded him as Secretar}^ of "War 
 of the Confederate States. General Randolph's name is 
 held in high esteem by all who admire a high type of man- 
 hood and knightly bearing. 
 
101 
 
 Captain Meriweather Lewis Anderson was mustered into 
 the service of the State of Virginia at the commencement 
 of the Confederate War as orderly sergeant of the First 
 Company of Richmond Howitzers. Subsequently he was 
 elected lieutenant when Captain E. S. McCarthy was 
 killed at second Cold Harbor. He, by seniority of rank, 
 became captain of the company. No braver officer ever 
 buckled sabor around his waist than this gallant Confed- 
 erate soldier. He was with the company in nearly every 
 battle it engaged or participated in. 
 
 The record that Captain Anderson left is bright as the 
 finest damascus blade. He has passed to the other side 
 of the river, and may his memory be cherished by all who 
 honor indomrjitable courage and devotion to the lost 
 cause. 
 
 During the war my company, the First Howitzers Camp, 
 was surrounded by infantry regiments ; it was in the fall 
 of the year hostilities had ceased, so a couple of cannoneers 
 and myself took a walk for recreation and to see what 
 was going on. We came to an infantry regiment going 
 through dress parade. It was a novel sight. The colonel 
 had an old cavalry sword attached to a cirsingle thrown 
 over his shoulders. The officers wore similar side arms. 
 The adjutant used a ram-rod for a sword; he formed the 
 regiment and presented it to the colonel. The company 
 officers marched forward and gave the customary salute 
 when the colonel put the regiment through a few evolu- 
 tions and disbanded. It was one of the best fighting regi- 
 ments in the army, yet paid little attention to the formula 
 of show on dress parade, but when charging the enemy 
 or holding their position in line of battle they were all 
 right.